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Wrapped Bitcoin (wBTC), one of the most widely used Bitcoin derivatives across the Ethereum ecosystem, said it is introducing security measures amid ongoing DeFi contagion fears. The project announced it is upgrading its cross-chain DVN (decentralized verification network) configurations, with the changes expected to be completed by Sunday, 26 April.
In its update, wBTC said the work is precautionary and reflects its approach to maintaining security standards across integrations. The project also placed a temporary pause on transfers across LayerZero, stating that its WBTC OFT service via LayerZero will be paused until the root cause is identified and confirmed safe to proceed.
DVN refers to the verification mechanism that an attacker exploited on LayerZero, which exposed the Kelp DAO protocol to losses. The article noted that KelpDAO used a simplified DVN setup that required only a single verifier, making the vulnerability easier to exploit.
As part of its hardening efforts, wBTC may be moving toward a multi-signature approach that requires more than two verifiers before assets can move across chains.
The KelpDAO exploit leveraged rsETH, described as low-quality collateral, which the attacker swapped for higher-quality assets. Although the targeted asset was not widely used, the impact was significant: KelpDAO lost $293 million, while contagion fears contributed to more than $15 billion in outflows from Aave.
Before the attack, KelpDAO’s rsETH had a market cap of $1.6 billion and 22.8K holders. By contrast, wBTC has 180K holders, including major tier-1 exchanges such as Binance, and a market supply of $9.2 billion.
According to the article, wBTC is the most liquid and widely used wrapped Bitcoin asset across DeFi platforms on both Ethereum and Solana, with a 44% market share. Coinbase’s wrapped Bitcoin (cbBTC) is listed as the second-largest, with about 28% market share.
More than 70% of the wBTC supply is locked in lending protocols and standalone buy-and-hold positions. The article quoted analyst Ignas, who said that a similar exploit would likely trigger a deeper DeFi run.
It also noted that while the first two days after the KelpDAO exploit saw about $400 million in wBTC outflows, wBTC then recorded net inflows starting 21 April (Tuesday), indicating resilience.
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