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This Week In DeFi – November 10

This Week In DeFi – November 10

Lending protocol Aave has temporarily halted operations on Aave V2 on Ethereum and frozen specific assets on Aave V3 across Polygon, Arbitrum, and Optimism due to an identified issue, as disclosed in a post on X.

Alex Miguel
November 10, 2023

Happy Friday, DeFi readers!

This week…

Aave freezes V2 & some V3 assets due to reported issue
Kraken looks to launch its own L2
Cubist releases wallet “100x faster” than existing wallets
Circle releases V2.2 for USDC and EURC

Aave freezes V2 & some V3 assets due to reported issue

Lending protocol Aave has temporarily halted operations on Aave V2 on Ethereum and frozen specific assets on Aave V3 across Polygon, Arbitrum, and Optimism due to an identified issue, as disclosed in a post on X.

The protocol assures users that no funds are currently at risk and plans to restart operations upon approval of a forthcoming proposal, with a postmortem to be released once the issue is fully resolved.

Aave V3 remains active on Ethereum, Base, and Metis, while V2 operations on Polygon and Avalanche are unaffected.

Today we received a report of an issue on a certain feature of the Aave Protocol. After validation by community developers, the guardian has taken the following temporary prevention measure (no funds are at risk):
— Aave (@aave)
6:19 PM • Nov 4, 2023

Kraken looks to launch its own L2

Coinbase competitor and US-based exchange, Kraken,is reportedly seeking a partner to help build its own layer-2 blockchain network.

The exchange is considering blockchain developers such as Polygon, Matter Labs, and Nil Foundation for the project, according to anonymous sources.

Kraken has posted a job listing for a "Senior Cryptography Engineer" with expertise in modern cryptography and layer-2 solutions, signaling its interest in exploring on-chain scaling solutions and integration of more protocols and dApps into its platform.

It is rumored that💚 Kraken Exchange 💚 intends to introduce its own Layer 2.
📌Kraken is said to be in talks with Polygon, Matter Labs, and the Nil Foundation as potential partners.
📌Coinbase launched its Layer 2 Base network earlier this year using the Optimism team's OP… twitter.com/i/web/status/1…
— Mercury1.bnb | ❤️ Memecoin (@vohoanggiang2)
11:59 PM • Nov 7, 2023

Cubist releases wallet “100x faster” than existing wallets

Blockchain startup Cubist, founded by computer science professors from Carnegie Mellon University and the University of California San Diego, has publicly released its "wallet-as-a-service" product, CubeSigner.

The wallet, designed to address secure key management challenges, uses revocable signing sessions, keeping private keys locked away in secure hardware to prevent accidental leaks or theft.

CEO Riad Wahby claims CubeSigner is configurable for various blockchains, and will be "a hundred times faster" than competitors.

Circle releases V2.2 for USDC and EURC

Circle has released its V2.2 upgrades for stablecoins USDC and EURC, featuring decreased gas costs, enhanced support for account abstraction, and improved security for transactions on EVM chains.

The upgrades, audited by blockchain security firm Halborn, include six changes to smart contracts for each supported EVM blockchain.

Circle plans to implement the v2.2 upgrades, which are fully backward-compatible and require no action from developers or users, starting on November 9. Full completion is expected over the next few months.

1/ We’re excited to unveil a new v2.2 upgrade to $USDC and $EURC that reduces gas costs, improves support for account abstraction, and bolsters security on EVM blockchains.
Learn more about the rollout timing and how v2.2 improves gas efficiency by >7%.
— Circle (@circle)
2:17 PM • Nov 9, 2023

DeFi funding is making a return

Investors’ eyes are fixating back on crypto and DeFi this week, as new funding and investment announcements scatter the headlines.

Leading the charge is venture capital firm Lightspeed Faction, with its announcement of a crazy $285 million fund for crypto startups. The fund will focus on “early-stage blockchain projects” and the company says it has already backed several of these during the bear market.

Also making headlines was Amsterdam-based venture firm Maven 11, which is looking to raise $100 million for its third crypto fund. Maven 11 prides itself on assisting the development of nascent ecosystems, and says the funds will go toward its Modular Program and consumer applications.

SBI Holdings is bringing $100 million to the table as well, with an aim to cover everything from seed to Series C funding rounds in crypto – with a focus on "strategic and minority investments."

Coming in hot with a $90 million fund is Polygon Village, targeting DeFi, gaming and decentralized social media within the Polygon ecosystem.

Throw in a $25 million ecosystem fund from Ninety Eight and a potential Ethereum ETF, and it looks like money may be pouring back into the space at a very significant rate.

As for how long it will keep flowing, that may be another question; however, for now a keen interest is building once again in the space – let’s see what we can build out of it.