The news broke on May 15 that Coinbase was the target of a $ 20 million oppressing attempt after cybercriminals recruited overseas support agents to leak user data for social engineering scams.
While less than 1% of active monthly Coinbase users have been reported to be affected, expected remediation and reimbursement costs from $ 180 million to $ 400 million, as the exchange has pledged to pay all victims of phishing attacks.
Despite attacking the third largest cryptocurrency exchange, the investor’s sentiment remains optimistic, along with the Fear & Greed Index that remains stable in the “greed” zone above 69, according to CoinmarketCap Data.
Adding to the investor’s optimism, Coinbase saw more than $ 1 billion worth of Bitcoin backward on May 9, marked the highest net outflow recorded in 2025 to date, triggering analyst predictions of a Supply-Shock-driven Bitcoin Rally.
Coinbase faces $ 400 million fees after attacking insider phishing
The Coinbase was hit by a $ 20 million oppressor attempt after cybercriminals recruited by overseas support agents to leak user data, the company said on May 15.
Coinbase said a group of external actors bribe and interact with some customer support contractors to access internal systems and steal limited user account data.
“These insider abused their access to customer support systems to steal account data for a small subset of customers,” said Coinbase, added that there are no passwords, private keys, funds or accounts in Coinbase Prime.
Less than 1% of the monthly transacting of Coinbase users has been affected by the attack, the company said.
After stealing the data, the attackers attempted to cultivate $ 20 million worth of Bitcoin (Btc) from Coinbase in exchange for not disclosing the violation. Coinbase rejected demand.
Instead, the company offered a $ 20 million reward for information leading to arrests and convincing those responsible for the scheme.
$ 1 billion Bitcoin exits Coinbase a day as analysts warn the shock of supply
Institution’s demand for Bitcoin is growing, since Coinbase, the third largest cryptocurrency exchange, recorded the highest daily Bitcoin flow of 2025 on May 9.
On May 9, Coinbase saw 9,739 Bitcoin, worth more than $ 1 billion, withdrawn from the exchange, the highest net outflow recorded in 2025, according to Bitwise head of European Research André Draamotch.
“Institutional appetite for Bitcoin is speeding up,” Dragosch added on a May 13 x Post.
The flowing occurred as Bitcoin exchanged more than $ 103,600 and just days after the White House announced a 90-day reduction in reward tariffs between the US and China, eliminating market concerns and lifting the broader feelings of investors.
90-day suspension of additional tariffs removed the risk of “sudden growth,” which may Help bitcoin, altcoins And the broader rally of the stock market due to enhanced appetite, Nansen’s main research analyst Aurelie Barthere, was told in Cointelegraph.
Defi Lender Aave reached $ 40 billion worth of locking onchain
AAVE, a decentralized financial protocol (DEFI), has reached a new record of onchain funds, according to data from Defillama.
To an x PostAAVE said that led to $ 40.3 billion in total amount locked (TVL) on May 12. Onchain data stated AAVE V3, the latest version of the protocol, has about $ 40 billion in TVL.
AAVE is a defi lending protocol that gives users to borrow cryptocurrency by depositing other types of cryptocurrency as collateral. Meanwhile, lenders earn produce from lenders.
“In these milestones, AAVE proves its dominance in the lending space,” Defi Analyst Jonaso said on a May 12 X X Post. TVL represents the total amount of cryptocurrency deposited in the intelligent contracts of a protocol.
SEC has delayed Solana ETF as decisions for Polkadot, XRP loom
The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has pushed its decision to a proposed place of Solana Exchange (ETF) funding, along with the cryptocurrency industry looking for deadlines for ETFs based in Polkadot and XRP in June.
The SEC has delayed its decision to list Grayscale’s place Solana (Sol) ETF trust in New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) until October 2025, according to a May 13 File by the security regulator.
The decision came on Sunday after the SEC delayed its decision on Canary Capital Litecoin (LTC) ETF, Bloomberg Intelligence Analyst James Seyffart wrote on a May 5 x Post.
ETF spots are primary liquidity and institutional adoption for digital properties. For Bitcoin, the US spot bitcoin ETF is worth approximate 75% of the new investment After the launch, which helped the BTC recover the $ 50,000 mark in February 2024, one month after the ETFs were dedicated to trading.
While a Solana etf May Only build a small portion of the flow of bitcoin ETFs, it can increase the adoption of Solana’s institution in the long run by offering investors a “regulated investment vehicle” that can still attract billions of capital dollars, Ryan Lee, chief analyst in Bitget Research, said cointelegraph.
Starknet hits “Stage 1” Decentralization, leading to ZK-Rollups for the amount locked
The Ethereum Layer-2 Scaling platform Starknet reached a decentralization milestone laid out by Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Baterin and is now the largest zero-kowlup-based roll-based roll-based network by the total locked amount.
Starknet said in a release of news shared with Cointelegraph that it hit “Stage 1” Decentralization, according to In a plot Laid by Baterin in 2022, which means the network operates with limited supervision or “training tires.”
Starknet added that the plot is the “gold standard onchain for the analysis of Ethereum scaling solutions,” and said it has achieved milestone through changes such as creating a security council and censorship prevention mechanisms.
While the system still allows intervention from a security council, it implemented a fully functional validity proof system managed by intelligent contracts.
StarkNet is the only Layer-2 ZK-Rollup network that has reached Stage 1 and has grown the largest ZK-Rollup blockchain with a total amount of $ 629 million, just leading the $ 610 million of Zksync, According to In L2Beat.
Starknet is the fifth largest largest Layer-2 network By the amount locked, with the top four all optimistic rollup-based optimistic, which reached stage 1 decentralization using proof fraud.
Overall -Defi Market
According to the data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro And tradingview, most of the 100 largest cryptocurrencies by market capitalization ended the week in green.
Memecoin dogwifhat based in Solana (Wif) rose by more than 43% as the largest week of the week, followed by the decentralized exchange of Raydium (Ray) token, up to 19% last week.
Thanks for reading our summary of the most affecting defi development of this week. Join us next Friday for more stories, perspectives and education about the dynamic advancement of this space.
