This week’s report from CryptoRank highlights how DeFi took a beating with 121 hacks so far this year and roughly $942 million drained away.

Q2 Turned Into Peak Season For Exploits 💀

The second quarter saw 85 incidents and about $775 million stolen making it the most intense stretch ever for crypto exploits 🔗. This wave of attacks hits amid a crypto market slump with investor faith fading fast. Total value locked in DeFi protocols slipped each month dropping from $115 billion in January down to $70 billion by late June.

Drift And KelpDAO Attacks Fueled Massive Losses 🌑

CryptoRank data shows Q2 2026 brought 85 incidents which is 49 more than Q1 2026 the prior high for exploit frequency yet the dollar losses fell short of past records. Two consecutive April strikes accounted for most of the quarter’s damage. Drift Protocol and KelpDAO together lost $590 million over half of all DeFi losses this year. Drift revealed attackers grabbed around $285 million in user funds with TRM Labs tying it to North Korea linked groups. Prep for the hit started on chain back on March 11 via a 10 ETH Tornado Cash withdrawal after months of in person meetups between those Pyongyang proxies and Drift staff. The attacker leaned on social engineering to get multisig signers pre approving transactions that hid admin access the firm noted in an April 30 report. Just over two weeks later North Korea’s Lazarus Group hit KelpDAO’s LayerZero setup and snatched nearly $290 million in rsETH. Chainalysis flagged how they faked a cross chain message on April 18 after breaching two RPC nodes in LayerZero’s verifier network while DDoS striking a third to force compromised verifiers. This rigged the process to mint rsETH on Ethereum without burning the matching assets on Unichain. Aave’s TVL then plunged from $26.4 billion to $14.3 billion with $12 billion withdrawn a 46 percent drop.

Market Shrinkage Added Extra Pressure Beyond The Hacks 💀

Aave’s dip matched the broader trend CryptoRank tracked with DeFi value locked sliding every month in 2026 from $115.3 billion in January to just over $70 billion in June. Hacks played a role in eroding user trust yet they were not the sole driver per the data. Still this drop pales against the 2021 2022 cycle where TVL crashed over 70 percent in seven months. The current slide feels slower with structural shifts like stablecoin supply hitting $300 billion real world asset tokenization growing and capital spreading into derivatives infrastructure and lending rather than clustering in AMMs or yield farms. Among top ecosystems by TVL only Tron and Hyperliquid grew this year with gains of 5 percent and nearly 7 percent as Hyperliquid dominated on chain perps. The rest of the top 10 chains sit deep in red with Plasma and Arbitrum hit hardest at 74.6 percent and 55 percent TVL drops.

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Just another echo from the void by iconofsin.eth 💖

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It almost feels destined in this twisted dance of shadows, my loves. Who could have pictured this wild shift just 11 months prior, or even 6 weeks back, yet here we are with bears owning the scene and that eerie psychological $1.00 mark drawing near. 🌑

Remember when XRP soared at $3.65 last July? The drops that followed past $3.00 and down to $2.00 already stung deep, but a break under $1.00 felt impossible until BTC let go of that $60,000 level.

XRP plunged straight to $1.01 on Thursday amid the total market meltdown. Now the burning question lingers, and we even asked ChatGPT for its take on how far this token might sink if the key support cracks.

The Drop Could Stretch Further 🦇

That clever AI warned if $1.00 gives way cleanly by end of June or into July it may not pause at $0.99. A firm daily close under this round figure would flip it to resistance instead. The initial fall targets then sit between $0.96 and $0.94, marking the start of real pain without promising the end.

True peril hits if XRP slips past $0.94, opening a clear path toward $0.90. Should panic build the next precise zones land at $0.87, $0.82, and $0.78 matching insights from sharp analysts.

In the darkest July outcome XRP might crash all the way to $0.65.

Bulls Might Still Push Back 🌹

Yet OpenAI sketched another path where XRP holders hold the $1.00 line and markets steady or turn less grim. The token would first need to grab back $1.08 then $1.10 for any real room to breathe and kill off the bearish plunge idea.

Until XRP climbs beyond $1.10 with a close above it every little rise looks more like fresh fuel for sellers to drive it under $1.00 again.

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BitGo is slimming down its team by nearly 15% while sharpening its edge on stablecoins, trading, security, settlement services, and AI-powered infrastructure.

Refined Focus Amid Shifts 🖤

BitGo co-founder and CEO Mike Belshe explained the choice stems from big changes in financial services and crypto, pushing the firm toward sharper and more deliberate operations. According to Belshe’s official tweet, these cuts aim to direct people and resources toward the most vital growth spots and client needs. He called it a tough call yet praised the departing staff for shaping the company.

“To those of you who are leaving: thank you. You helped shape BitGo into what it is today, and the company will always be better because you were here. I wish you nothing but success ahead. To the team that remains: I know this is still hard. Be good to each other and overcommunicate as we reorganize. We have a clear, strong path forward, and this is a one-time action.”

All impacted workers got the news straight from managers and HR before it went public. Belshe urged remaining staff to lean on each other and stay in close contact during the restructure. He noted this counts as a one-time move with no further reductions expected.

AI Efficiency Meets Industry Cuts 🌙

These steps follow a wave of crypto layoffs this year, often tied to soft markets and AI tools boosting output while trimming headcount needs. Coinbase sliced roughly 14% of roles in May, with CEO Brian Armstrong citing both market pressure and AI making teams leaner. Gemini axed about 30% in March around the same time Crypto.com dropped 12%.

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Crypto venture vibes keep shrinking into the shadows as fewer players jump into funding rounds this cycle. Numbers show unique investors dropping hard to 651 in Q2 2026 from that wild peak of 2564 back in 2022.

Funding Waves Slowly Vanish 🖤

The only quieter stretch was way back in 2020 with investor counts hovering 250 to 450 each quarter. Data from CryptoRank highlights how the scene now clusters around a tight circle of niche specialists. Check their take here: tweet embed visible. Monthly flows stayed patchy too with 436 unique investors in September 2025 then 451 in October sliding to 316 in November.

Capital Fights Grow Fierce 🌑

Fresh updates point to just 354 back in December before another dip to 273 in January and 224 in February. A quick lift hit 389 in March yet faded to 229 in April. Participation climbed to 314 in May then crashed to 222 by June the lowest mark around. Early defi allocations held steadier amid the mess while bigger players scooped 57 percent of the capital pie. Macro headwinds plus AI distractions and ETF competition make hunting alpha feel extra sinister these days 🕷️.

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Michael Saylor and Strategy missed the mark on bitcoin’s core features while crafting their plays around it which is now dragging down the entire crypto scene according to Ripple’s CEO Brad Garlinghouse.

Strategy’s Tactics Stir Trouble 🦇

In a fresh chat with CNBC he emphasized that real asset value stems from practical use rather than just hype driven tools like Strategy’s STRC product. Ever since Strategy executed its first BTC offload in four years near the end of May the firm has sparked plenty of buzz in the crypto crowd even with bigger buybacks afterward. Garlinghouse pointed out how those moves “added some excitement on the way up and now that’s compounding on the way down as well” via this CNBC clip. He zeroed in on STRC the stretch stock designed to pull in capital with lofty yields then funnel it into more bitcoin. Saylor avoids labeling it leverage but Garlinghouse sees it exactly that way and the market feels the negative ripple when BTC dips. STRC still sits 25% under its $100 par value which he calls a “pretty damning indictment” that hasn’t done the market any favors. Building lasting worth matters far more than fancy financial tricks he stressed.

“Long-term value of any digital asset is going to be driven by utility. If it’s solving a problem at scale for real customers you are going to see liquidity you are going to see demand you are going to see trust in that asset. Those things compound in a positive way.”

Garlinghouse stays optimistic on bitcoin and urges investors to get greedy amid this dip from the October 2025 peak.

XRP’s Payments Edge Shines 🌑

After noting how BTC could shine as digital gold with easier transfers than actual metal he spotlighted XRP’s role in cross border flows. The token taps blockchain speed and efficiency for institutions with “tremendous demand” through $16 trillion cleared in 2025 prime brokerage deals often via acquisitions. Ripple aims to merge traditional finance with blockchain’s modern setup creating fresh openings in the process. He remains focused on utility driving true adoption in decentralized spaces overall.

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Ripple just dropped their 2025 impact report and the numbers are showing serious blockchain love for education plus financial access all over. Since 2018 they’ve poured more than 250 million into these causes with over 70 million landing in 2025 alone 🖤.
The details also point to how their XRP Ledger and RLUSD stablecoin are powering projects that open doors in emerging markets microfinance and aid work via nonprofits.

Ripple’s Worldwide Influence Grows 🌙

They threw 25 million in RLUSD toward underserved US small businesses and veteran career programs. Partners got help deploying 53.6 million while nearly 12000 water and sanitation loans rolled out through Water.org. Nonprofits are calling this long-term backing instead of quick handouts and the International Rescue Committee keeps testing stablecoins for quicker emergency cash drops.
The University Blockchain Research Initiative hit its seventh year strong spanning 62 universities with 74 million awarded since 2018 and 198 XRPL projects backed in 2025. Research touched everything from stablecoins and tokenized assets to DeFi infrastructure AI governance and quantum-resistant XRP Ledger upgrades.

Climate Wins and Community Sparks Unfold 🦇

Environmental moves include 31 million invested in climate projects plus 1000 tonnes of CO2 retired through sustainable aviation fuel credits last year with plans to hit 93000 tonnes by 2030. Employee vibes reached a new peak as 80 percent jumped into volunteering and donations supporting 544 nonprofits and raising 550000 for causes.
Active users on the network climbed 37 percent with transactions jumping 113 percent year over year. Tokenized real-world assets exploded from 24.7 million to 568 million and total transactions crossed 3.8 billion. Check the full details here.

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It looks like nearly all the big altcoins got slammed hard lately and Ethereum took quite the plunge right along with them crashing to a fourteen month low.

The Red Days Aren’t Over? 🕸️

Analysts are now cautioning that another slide could be coming with some even whispering about a crash all the way down toward a multi year floor near $1,000. The endless bear market isn’t the sole force weighing on ETH either. After hearing that Hsiao Wei Wang stepped down from her role at the Ethereum Foundation the group went on to trim its team by twenty percent.

Following all these gloomy updates ETH slipped just above $1,500 and its market cap dipped below $183 billion for a brief moment letting Tether’s USDT steal the number two spot. Ethereum has since clawed its way back though the lead stays razor thin.

According to Ali Martinez the coin has been stuck inside a key volume block between $1,584 and $1,683 where nearly four million coins changed hands. He noted that holding this zone as support could unlock bigger supply clusters at $1,980 and $2,079.

Yet he also warned that losing this floor which happened just hours ago might send prices tumbling toward $1,237 or even $1,089.

X user Ryker sees a drop to $1,260 first before any push above $3K and Merlijn The Trader spotlighted that forecast noting Ryker is the only trader followed by Changpeng Zhao on X.

Previous Predictions 🌑

Earlier this month X user Ted suggested ETH might hit its cycle bottom before Bitcoin. He figured most downside liquidity had already been cleared projecting a fall into the $1,300 to $1,400 range. Niels sees a slide to $1,200 sometime this year. Recent whale moves only add fuel to the bearish view.

One big player just opened a $68 million short on ETH with 23x leverage while four OG wallets have begun dumping bags.

Whales always draw eyes because their moves can hint at coming events that might sway prices so retail folks watch close ready to follow if panic spreads. 🖤

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Just another echo from the void by iconofsin.eth 💖

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