Welcome to Finance Redefined, your weekly dose of essential decentralized finance (DeFi) insights — a newsletter crafted to bring you significant developments over the last week. The backlash from the Terra implosion still haunts the crypto world, with the now-shuttered stablecoin yield platform Stablegains being sued for customer losses. The plaintiffs allege that the platform funnelled customer funds into Anchor Protocol without users’ knowledge or consent. Platypus, the DeFi protocol that was exploited for over $8 million, is working on a compensation plan to recover some of the funds. Florida’s Cogent Bank is proposing a $100 million participation in loans …

A report from the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) suggested that trading activity on major exchanges increased in the days following the collapse of crypto firms FTX and Terraform Labs. According to a Feb. 20 bulletin on “crypto shocks and retail losses,” the BIS reported that while the price of Bitcoin (BTC), Ether (ETH), and other tokens dropped in 2022, the number of daily active users at some exchanges including Coinbase and Binance “increased markedly” following news of the collapse of Terra and FTX. The bank suggested that “users tried to weather the storm” by moving their investments into stablecoins …

New week, a new element of the crypto ecosystem is under attack. This time, the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ordered Paxos Trust to stop issuing Binance USD (BUSD) — a dollar-pegged stablecoin. Paxos received a cease order from the New York Department of Financial Services (NYDFS). With no other choice, Paxos announced that from Feb. 21, it would end its relationship with Binance for the branded U.S. dollar-pegged stablecoin BUSD. All existing BUSD tokens will remain fully backed and redeemable through Paxos Trust Company until “at least February 2024.” Customers can redeem their funds in U.S. dollars …

Decentralized finance yield platform Stablegains has been sued in a Californian court for allegedly misleading investors and failing to comply with securities laws. On Feb. 18, plaintiffs Alec and Artin Ohanian filed a complaint in the U.S. District Court for the central district of California. In it they alleged that Stablegains, a DeFi platform launched in August 2021, diverted all of its customer funds to the Anchor Protocol without their knowledge or consent. Anchor Protocol offered yields of up to 20% on the Terraform Labs algorithmic stablecoin, Terra USD (UST). “As an early supporter of and investor in TFL [Terraform …

A complaint filed by the United States Securities and Exchange Commission said Terra co-founder Do Kwon and Terraform Labs laundered more than $100 million worth of Bitcoin from the platform following its collapse in May 2022. According to the SEC complaint filed in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York on Feb. 16, Kwon and Terraform have transferred more than 10,000 Bitcoin (BTC) from the platform and the Luna Foundation Guard to a cold wallet, then to a Swiss bank account to convert to fiat. The financial regulator said that the Terra co-founder and his company …

Terraform Labs and its founder Do Kwon being in the sights of the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) have sparked various reactions from lawyers within the crypto community. On Feb. 16, the SEC accused and charged Kwon and Terraform Labs for allegedly selling a “suite of crypto asset securities.” While community members are not defending Kwon for his actions, they are questioning the manner in which the SEC is going after Terra and its founder. Web3 lawyer Mike Selig posted his thoughts on the issue on Twitter. According to Selig, the SEC characterizes the algorithmic stablecoin Terra USD …

The United States Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC's) lawsuit against Terraform Labs and its co-founder Do Kwon could be seen as an SEC “roadmap” to taking down other stablecoins, according to a lawyer. Gabriel Shapiro, general counsel at investment firm Delphi Labs, explained to his 33,800 Twitter followers on Feb. 16 that the SEC’s arguments in its complaint against Kwon and Terraform were “more thorough than usual.” whew lad, lots to digest in the SEC lawsuit vs Do Kwon and Terraform Labs right off the bat, a very interesting fact is that the SEC is being more thorough than usual--specifically …

The United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has filed a lawsuit against Terraform Labs and its founder Do Kwon, charging the for "orchestrating a multi-billion dollar crypto asset securities fraud." In a Feb. 16 statement, the SEC said Kwon and Terraform offered and sold an "inter-connected suite of crypto asset securities, many in unregistered transactions" pointing to its algorithmic stablecoin, TerraClassicUSD (USTC) and its connected cryptocurrency Terra Luna Classic (LUNC). In a statement, SEC Chair, Gary Gensler, said: "We allege that Terraform and Do Kwon failed to provide the public with full, fair, and truthful disclosure as required for …

South Korean prosecutors have requested an arrest warrant for the former CEO of Tmon, a Korean e-commerce platform, after taking billions of won in LUNA (LUNA), now known as LUNA Classic (LUNC), for promoting Terra as a simple payment gateway. Seoul prosecutors requested an arrest warrant on the former CEO of ecommerce giant Tmon for allegedly receiving bribery from Terra cofounder Daniel Shin in exchange for promoting Terra as a payment method, the Seoul Southern District Prosecutors Office confirmed with me via text. — Danny Kunwoong Park (@ParkKunwoong) February 15, 2023 Media outlet Dong-A Ilbo reported that the head of …

The hunt for the controversial founder of the now-collapsed Terra ecosystem, Do Kwon, has intensified with South Korean officials reportedly confirming they sent at least two people to Serbia to track him down. According to a Feb. 7 Bloomberg report, the prosecutor’s office in Seoul said the reports “aren’t false” regarding members of its team trekking out to the Balkan state to find Kwon. It appears at least two state officials went — one from the prosecutor's office and the other being a senior member of South Korea’s Justice Ministry. South Korean-based publication Chosun Media confirmed on Dec. 11 that …

Stablecoins have been under much scrutiny after the implosion of the third-largest stablecoin by market cap, TerraUSD (UST), in May 2022. The UST saga led to a lot of skepticism that caused consumers to question the safety of stablecoins. In the seventh episode of Hashing It Out, Cointelegraph's Elisha Owusu Akyaw (GhCryptoGuy) interviewed Paolo Ardoino, Tether's chief technology officer, about how stablecoins work alongside a discussion on frequently asked questions about stable tokens. Fear, uncertainty and doubt (FUD) rocked the boats of stablecoin issuers after the third most popular stablecoin, TerraUSD, depegged in 2022. Tether was one of such issuers …

A whopping 72% of institutional e-traders have signaled “no plans to trade crypto/digital coins” in 2023, according to a new survey conducted by JPMorgan. The seventh edition of JPMorgan’s e-Trading Edit surveyed 835 traders from 60 different “global locations” about the technical developments and macroeconomic factors that will influence trading performance in 2023. The survey was conducted between Jan. 3 to Jan. 23, 2023. The survey revealed hesitation among traders around digital assets. Only 14% of respondents said they will either continue to trade in the digital asset market or begin trading this year. The remaining 14% of respondents, said …