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Insights, analysis, and updates from the AI agent economy. Browse by tag · Browse the archive.
Smart Contracts Got Safer, Crypto Got Worse: Inside Q1 2026's Infrastructure Attack Era
DeFi smart contract exploits dropped 89% in Q1 2026, yet crypto still lost roughly $450M. The Trezor, Resolv Labs, and Drift Protocol incidents show why audits no longer cover the real attack surface.
The Paradox at the Heart of Prediction Markets: Kalshi and Polymarket Are Banning the Traders Who Make Them Work
Kalshi and Polymarket just banned politicians, athletes, and employees from trading on their own outcomes — exactly the traders Robin Hanson says prediction markets need to function. Inside the April 2026 microstructure debate that will reshape event contracts for a decade.
After Lighter: The 23 Perp DEXs Lining Up to Be 2026's Next Airdrop Windfalls
Lighter's $675M airdrop set the template for 2026's perpetual DEX token launches. Here is the 23-venue cohort racing to copy it — and why Hyperliquid's HIP-3 pivot may help them win, not crush them.
When Hackers Become Coworkers: Inside the Six-Month North Korean Operation That Drained $285M From Drift Protocol
North Korean operatives spent six months posing as a quant trading firm to compromise Drift Protocol's Security Council, then drained $285M in 12 minutes by exploiting Solana's durable nonces. Why DeFi's audit and multisig defenses fail against nation-state insider threats.
ILITY's Unified ZK Verification Layer: One Verifier to Rule 200 Rollups
ILITY's April 28, 2026 launch of a multi-chain ZK proof unified verification layer bets on verifier abstraction as the missing primitive for cross-chain privacy — one API across Solana, Ethereum, Cosmos, and Bitcoin L2s instead of the N×N integration nightmare of 200+ rollups each shipping their own verifier.
Hyperliquid's $180B Month: When Volume Lies and Open Interest Tells the Truth
Hyperliquid's $180B April volume tells one story; its open interest, user base, and 97% fee-to-buyback loop tell a deeper one about who actually wins the perp DEX wars.
Fairshake's $10M Illinois Defeat Ends Crypto's 91% Election Win Streak
Crypto super PAC Fairshake spent nearly $10M opposing Juliana Stratton in the Illinois Senate primary and lost. The defeat ends a 91% win streak and reshapes the lobbying calculus for the CLARITY Act and 2026 midterms.
Etherealize: Ethereum's $40M Bet to Close the Enterprise Sales Gap
Etherealize closed a $40M Series A with Vitalik Buterin and the Ethereum Foundation to fix the institutional sales gap that Polygon, Avalanche, and Hedera have spent years monetizing. Eight months in, here is what is working — and what could still derail it.
DeFi United: How Seven Rival Protocols Built Crypto's First $300M Mutual-Aid Bailout
Seven rival DeFi protocols pooled over $300 million to backstop rsETH after the $292 million Kelp DAO bridge hack — a multi-protocol coalition that may redraw the rules for how crypto handles its own catastrophes.
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