KyberSwap hacker wants control, law firm says Aussie DeFi tax rules ‘non-binding’: Finance Redefined

Welcome to Finance Redefined, your weekly dose of essential decentralized finance (DeFi) insights — a newsletter crafted to bring you the most significant developments from the past week.

The hacker who stole over $46 million from the DeFi protocol KyberSwap has released a list of demands, including total control over the Kyber company and all its assets. The hacker specified a deadline for the Kyber team to fulfill the demands.

A law firm in Australia described the DeFi tax guidance released by the country’s finance regulator as “toilet paper.” Cadena Legal told Cointelegraph that this guidance would only confuse Australians and might reduce their willingness to comply with the rules.

The DeFi ecosystem continued the bullish market momentum from last week, with most tokens showing steady gains on the weekly charts.

KyberSwap hacker demands complete control over Kyber company

The KyberSwap hacker has finally revealed the conditions that needed to be fulfilled for them to return some of the funds taken from their $46 million hack. In an on-chain message, the hacker said they wanted total control of the Kyber company and its assets, both on-chain and off-chain. 

While the hacker’s demands may be absurd, they also said what they would do if they were fulfilled. According to the message, they would double the salary of Kyber employees and buy out its executives before kicking them out of the company. The hacker also gave the Kyber team until Dec. 10 to fulfill the demands.

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Australia’s confusing new crypto tax guidance is “toilet paper,” says law firm

Australian law firm Cadena Legal published a blog post highlighting that the unclear DeFi rules released by the Australian Taxation Office were “non-binding.” The law firm described the guidance as “toilet paper” and said that it makes everyone more confused.  

In addition, the law firm’s founder, Harrison Dell, told Cointelegraph in a statement that this type of guidance could reduce “willing compliance” from crypto community members in Australia.

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DeFi could solve Africa’s foreign exchange problems, neobank CEO says

An executive of a neobank project told Cointelegraph that DeFi is able to solve liquidity issues in Africa’s foreign exchange market. Pascal Ntsama IV, CEO of Canza Finance, said that DeFi technology could address issues on this front by providing decentralized foreign exchange for African currencies. 

The African DeFi community is expected to grow at a rate of over 20% and reach more than half a million users by 2027. Industry experts have argued for revisions to the projections as blockchain product penetration continues to record new highs.

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Wormhole raises $225 million at $2.5 billion valuation

Cross-chain protocol Wormhole recently secured $225 million in funding in an investment round led by Brevan Howard, Coinbase Ventures, Multicoin Capital and many others. The investment places the company at a new valuation of $2.5 billion.  

The company made headlines in February 2022 after losing $321 million in one of the largest DeFi hacks of the year. To mitigate the losses, venture capital firm Jump Crypto pledged to replenish the funds lost in the hack.

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DeFi market overview

Data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView shows that DeFi’s top 100 tokens by market capitalization had a bullish week, with most tokens trading in green on the weekly charts. The total value locked into DeFi protocols remained above $47.4 billion.

Thanks for reading our summary of this week’s most impactful DeFi developments. Join us next Friday for more stories, insights and education regarding this dynamically advancing space.