Founder of @DefiantNews. Author of The Infinite Machine. Ex Bloomberg News reporter in NYC, Madrid, BsAs. Chilena. Mamá.
New York, NY
Joined November 2011
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this is some optimistic accounting from cz
frozen funds doesn't mean recovered funds -- only 0.8% of stolen crypto funds are actually returned to victims, according to @blockaid_
thedefiant.io/news/security/…
Again the pooled vs segregated lending model debate comes up
In this case, Aave acted quickly to freeze markets and protect all users but also calls into question the decentralization question
Morpho doesn’t intervene in market, losses are contained to individual vaults, but in past hacks vault lenders have been rekt.
By design, a Morpho Blue market can't protect its users: it can't freeze the market to mitigate risk, act on the interest rate curve or implement rate limiting, and it has no Umbrella junior tranche to protect deposits.
When an isolated market breaks, its lenders take 100% of the loss.
If you're a Morpho user facing an adverse event, they will just tweet and let you sink, as they did during the dozens of vault blowups that led to dire user losses. Ask anyone who was in a curator vault during Stream/Elixir.
Users won't trust an infra with real size if it doesn't care about them or support them.
That's why, even with infinite VC funding, deployed incentives, a competitor that lost its best contributors and paid partnerships, Morpho only added a pathetic +$2.15B in active loans this year.
For comparison, I did as much in one week at the Plasma launch.
Camila Russo retweeted
ARKHAM ESTIMATES $6.01B @binance HACK AS WITHDRAWALS STAY SUSPENDED
About $2.9B remains movable, @arkham says. Binance separately estimates a $6.3B impact and pledges to cover all losses.
Read more here:
thedefiant.io/news/hacks/ark…
Camila Russo retweeted
Binance withdrawals remain paused after a suspected hack, with no restart time as of Oct. 29, 2026, 7:08 p.m. ET.
Binance says user funds are safe. Token freezes restrict movement; they do not establish recovery or final losses.
thedefiant.io/news/hacks/bin…
ALT Chronological timeline distinguishing wallet transactions from issuer and exchange statements on Oct. 29, 2026.
Camila Russo retweeted
Reminder for @aave users who aren't sure what asset/market freezing means
Right now - the LTV (Loan-to-Value) ratio for collateral assets is 0. Technically, that means collateral assets are no longer able to back any of the debt.
If you have an existing position - things might look a bit weird as you won't be able to do any additional borrowing.
However - that doesn't mean your current debt isn't backed, or that you're gonna get instantly liquidated.
It simply means your position is unable to generate any new debt while the collateral asset's LTV is 0 (frozen)
So - definitely worth noting that you're still able to protect your position against liquidation. Whether that's repaying debt directly from your wallet, or using your collateral to clear debt with a tool such as @DeFiSaver
Happy to answer any concerns/questions for those who haven't experienced this type of situation with their position before
DeFi exposure to the Binance hack:
No DeFi protocol was exploited. The theft hit @binance custodial hot wallets.
@Tether_to says it froze over $1.6B USDT and @circle over $800M USDC.
~195k ETH can’t be frozen and it’s already moving.
@ethena is potentially the most exposed DeFi protocol bc its hedges sit on CEXs including Binance. Its collateral is held off-exchange by custodians, not on Binance.
wBETH (the Binance token used in DeFi) was among the 60+ tokens drained. It’s holding its peg so far.
@aave just froze some markets, it said as a precaution. Reports said hackers were borrowing ETH against stolen stables
We’re aware of reports of a potential incident affecting Binance-affiliated wallets.
Aave’s contracts are unaffected, and positions remain overcollateralized. As a precaution, all DAO-operated markets across V3 and V4 have been frozen.
The freeze pauses new deposits and borrows, and users can still withdraw and repay their existing positions.
Camila Russo retweeted
UPDATED NUMBERS ON BINANCE HACK NUMBERS
$5.80B total drained across 6 chains and 69 assets
$2.58B frozen (Tether $1.76B, Circle $823M),
then USDT $2.49B, BTC $1.43B and USDC $823M
Camila Russo retweeted
STELLAR @StellarOrg MERIDIAN DAY 2
INTERVIEWS FROM THE FLOOR:
📣 BRINGING STABLECOIN PAYMENTS TO 190 COUNTRIES WITH BVNK @BVNKFinance
Rubén Galindo @rubengsp CEO - Airtm @airtminc
📣 MARSHALL ISLANDS IS ISSUING A SOV. BOND AND UBI ON STELLAR @StellarOrg
Charles Paul, Marshall Islands Ambassador @RMI_Govt
📣 THE DATA GIANT’S $110M RAISE LED BY S&P @SPGlobal
Ambre Soubiran @ambresoub, CEO - Kaiko @KaikoData
📣 KEEPING AN EDGE IN CRYPTO VC
Ben Lakoff @benlakoff, GP - Bankless Ventures @BanklessVC
📣 STELLAR DEFI EXPANDING WITH @CurveFinance,
@MetaMask, @SentoraHQ, @upshift_fi
Ada Vaughan @AdaVaughan, Head of DeFi - Stellar
📣 ETHERFUSE LAUNCHING PRINCIPAL+YIELD TOKENS FOR LOCAL CURRENCY BONDS
David Taylor @EtherfuseDave, CEO - Etherfuse @etherfuse
📣 BETTING THAT REAL ESTATE WILL BE THE NEXT RWA CATEGORY WITH +5% APYS
Edward Nwokedi @apartmentpro, CEO - RedSwan @RedSwanCRE
Kaiko's $110M Raise, a Nation Onchain, Stablecoins in 190 Countries & More: On the Floor @ Stellar's Meridian teapaw.org/i/broadcasts/1yJAPwjqq…
It's my third Stellar Meridian conference, and this year felt like a step change for the network:
Stellar is growing from formerly payments & emerging markets-focused, into a strong player that's also in RWAs and DeFi ($4B RWA TVL, ~400% growth y/y)
They got a slower start -- they only got smart contracts in 2024. but they're closing that gap with big partnerhsips and genuine technical innovation (check our Thruput exclusive yesterday, or Privacy Documentary with @RektHQ for example)
Kudos to the team @DenelleDixon @tomerweller @JoseFDaPonte and the rest, and thanks for being a great partner to @DefiantNews (and for always picking great event locations!)
A summary of the biggest announcements:
✶ @JanusHenderson and @centrifuge launch JQQQ, a Nasdaq-100 fund issued only on Stellar
✶ @Securitize adds Stellar to its supported chains
✶ @MetaMask makes Stellar a default network
✶ Marshall Islands issuing a sovereign bond and UB1
✶ Spiko’s SAFO is now the largest tokenized fund at $2.38B, with $1.65B on Stellar
✶ @CurveFinance launches on Stellar mainnet, its first non-EVM deployment
✶ @archaxex launches €GOVY, a tokenized euro government bill product
✶ Movantis adds Stellar USDC settlement for US-to-El Salvador payments
✶ @airtminc and @BVNKFinance partner on retail payments
✶ @VIA_Labs launches two-way messaging between Stellar and Ethereum
Camila Russo retweeted
STELLAR @StellarOrg MERIDIAN DAY 2
INTERVIEWS FROM THE FLOOR:
📣 BRINGING STABLECOIN PAYMENTS TO 190 COUNTRIES WITH BVNK @BVNKFinance
Rubén Galindo @rubengsp CEO - Airtm @airtminc
📣 MARSHALL ISLANDS IS ISSUING A SOV. BOND AND UBI ON STELLAR @StellarOrg
Charles Paul, Marshall Islands Ambassador @RMI_Govt
📣 THE DATA GIANT’S $110M RAISE LED BY S&P @SPGlobal
Ambre Soubiran @ambresoub, CEO - Kaiko @KaikoData
📣 KEEPING AN EDGE IN CRYPTO VC
Ben Lakoff @benlakoff, GP - Bankless Ventures @BanklessVC
📣 STELLAR DEFI EXPANDING WITH @CurveFinance, @MetaMask, @SentoraHQ, @upshift_fi
Ada Vaughan (@AdaVaughan), Head of DeFi - Stellar (@StellarOrg):
📣 ETHERFUSE LAUNCHING PRINCIPAL+YIELD TOKENS FOR LOCAL CURRENCY BONDS
David Taylor @EtherfuseDave, CEO - Etherfuse @etherfuse
📣 BETTING THAT REAL ESTATE WILL BE THE NEXT RWA CATEGORY WITH +5% APYS
Edward Nwokedi @apartmentpro, CEO - RedSwan @RedSwanCRE
Kaiko's $110M Raise, a Nation Onchain, Stablecoins in 190 Countries & More: On the Floor @Stellar's Meridian teapaw.org/i/broadcasts/1qKVmydoy…
Camila Russo retweeted
Centrifuge just launched JQQQ, a tokenized Nasdaq-100 fund with @JanusHenderson.
Stellar Foundation is the anchor investor.
@CamiRusso sat down with Eli Cohen of @centrifuge at @StellarOrg's Meridian in Lisbon to talk index licensing, DeFi wrappers and who gets to tokenize a stock.
Camila Russo retweeted
Meridian 2026 by @StellarOrg kicked off, and The Defiant is on the ground providing live coverage from Lisbon.
Camila Russo retweeted
Stock issuers are increasingly saying no to tokenized stocks: Rejections climb to 33 for the first venue in the SEC stock token exemption (the OKX-ICE partnership).
Didn't think companies would be so against other tokenizing their shares, that's half the tickers that were proposed are saying no.
OKXICE ISSUER OBJECTIONS REACH 33, NARROWING PLANNED STOCK-TOKEN LINEUP
The @okx-backed venue added seven objectors. Objections cover 31 of 63 original symbols, according to The Defiant’s tally.
Read more here:
thedefiant.io/converge/tradf…
ALT Comparison of OKXICE’s original roster: 63 symbols from 62 companies, of which 31 symbols from 30 companies face disclosed objections and 32 symbols from 32 companies do not.
Camila Russo retweeted
Most teams wait for governance voting to officially close before celebrating an upgrade.
.@aztecnetwork just announced Alpha V6 approval with 100% support — even though the governance dashboard still shows voting open until Oct 24 and execution set for Oct 26 (spotted by @DefiantNews & @CamiRusso ).
Behind the timing quirk, V6 completely reshapes how the privacy L2 runs on @ethereum:
• Faster L1-to-L2 Bridging:
Ethereum-to-Aztec message lag drops from 24–108s down to 12–30s by streaming messages directly into blocks.
• Operator Economics Shift:
Total checkpoint rewards stay at 500 ethereum:0xa27ec0006e59f245217ff08cd52a7e8b169e62d2, but the sequencer cut jumps from 70% to 90% — slashing the prover reward pool from 150 to 50 ethereum:0xa27ec0006e59f245217ff08cd52a7e8b169e62d2 .
• Hard Contract Migration:
Moving to the new rollup requires recompiling app contracts with new addresses.
• 30-Day Sunset Buffer:
The payload reserves 1.8M ethereum:0xa27ec0006e59f245217ff08cd52a7e8b169e62d2 (at a reduced 50 ethereum:0xa27ec0006e59f245217ff08cd52a7e8b169e62d2/checkpoint rate across ~1,200 daily checkpoints) to keep V5 alive for ~30 days during migration.
• London Office Hours Rule:
Mainnet execution has a 2-day delay and can only trigger on UK weekdays between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m. London time.
Cutting prover emissions by 66% to boost sequencers is a bold tradeoff right before a full contract migration.
Will squeezing prover rewards hurt decentralization, or is 90% sequencer capture necessary for #Aztec V6 speed? #Ethereum #L2 #DeFi
Camila Russo retweeted
Nice breakdown here from @CamiRusso and @DefiantNews on the differences between Securitize Stocks and Robinhood’s Stock Tokens.
Only one is available across the world including right here in the USA. thedefiant.io/news/tradfi-an…
Starknet TVL just dropped from $158M to $42M after @extendedapp migrated to ARC
Right on the day governance approved research to become its own L1
a16z crypto name change is another sign crypto won in becoming the world's new financial rails
a narrow "crypto" focus doesn't make sense anymore because it's become financial infrastructure for any startup to the point where the "crypto" piece isn't the novelty. it's just there because it's what works. which was the goal from the beginning.
RT @amandacassatt: Hey @CamiRusso and I are trying something new, streaming in 3 minutes on the new JPM deposit coin, OCC rules, Kimchi, an…
