Unchained
Strategy's Preferred Stock Is Now a Stablecoin. And DeFi Has a Security Problem.
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Show notes
The $290 million Kelp DAO hack, attributed to North Korea's Lazarus Group, has DeFi TVL down $13 billion in 48 hours. Do DeFi's foundational assumptions need to change?
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DeFi TVL fell from $99.5 to $86.3 billion in 48 hours after the $290 million Kelp DAO exploit — the latest nine-figure attack attributed to North Korea's Lazarus Group, this time via a compromised Layer Zero bridge.
Meanwhile, a new class of yield-bearing instrument is staking a claim on capital fleeing private credit: Apyx's APY USD, backed by Strategy's STRC preferred stock, launched on Kraken this week with a 12% yield target and $180 million in supply after just seven weeks. Is STRC-backed yield a legitimate financial primitive, or a Bitcoin derivative with extra steps?
And as DeFi absorbs yet another devastating security failure, is the industry's core assumption — that incoming transactions should be treated as legitimate — finally due for an overhaul? Austin Campbell, Ram Ahluwalia, and Chris Perkins dig in with Parker White of Apyx and Michael Bentley of Euler.
Hosts:
Austin Campbell, Host of Bits + Bips, Zero Knowledge Consulting
Ram Ahluwalia, Co-Host, CEO of Lumida
Chris Perkins, Co-Host, CEO of 250 Digital Asset Management
Hosts:
Parker White — @TheOtherParker_ — Founding Contributor, Apyx.
Michael Bentley — @euler_mab — Former CEO, Euler Labs
Timestamps
🎤 0:00 Introduction
💰 1:49 What Apyx is and how its STRC-backed stablecoin targets 12% yield
⚖️ 6:08 The bull and bear cases for Apyx USD
🔄 10:04 How the two-token model creates yield leverage beyond holding STRC
🌍 16:51 Who the product is for and the path to US markets
📈 21:51 Bitcoin decoupling from equities and the non-consensus rally
🔥 30:15 The $290M Kelp DAO hack: mechanics and who’s to blame
🛡️ 47:07 Should DeFi stop assuming transactions are legitimate by default?
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