TLDR:

Ethereum daily transactions fell 43% in a week, while average transfer value surged over 184% in the same period.
ETH netflows remain deeply negative at -79,080 ETH, pointing to large volumes steadily leaving crypto exchanges.
Binance stablecoin inflows rose 440% above the 30-day average, hitting +$34.4M as larger players build exposure.
Ethereum has reversed twice after similar retail retreats; analysts say a third repeat could trigger a new all-time high.

Ethereum on-chain data is revealing a sharp divergence between large holders and everyday participants. Daily transactions from regular wallets have dropped roughly 43% over the past week.

Meanwhile, the average value per transaction has surged over 184%, with the median transfer rising even more steeply.

The network is processing fewer moves, but each one carries far greater weight. The pattern points to a consolidating market shaped by fewer, more deliberate actors.

Transaction Data Reflects a Shifting Participant Base

The decline in routine on-chain activity is not an isolated development. When smaller participants reduce their frequency of use, the relative share of large-value transfers rises sharply.

That is precisely what the current data shows. Transaction counts are down, but the capital moving per transaction tells a different story altogether.

This kind of shift tends to occur during periods of broader market stress or uncertainty. Regular users pull back, while larger holders continue executing with purpose. The result is a network that appears quieter on the surface but carries heavier loads beneath.

Rather than signaling network decline, this combination typically points to capital moving into fewer, more concentrated positions.

Historically, similar patterns have preceded conditions where supply tightens and ownership narrows ahead of a potential shift in price momentum.

Exchange Flows and Stablecoin Data Add to the Picture

Beyond transaction metrics, broader flow data reinforces the same narrative. Total ETH netflows sit at roughly -79,080 ETH, meaning substantial volumes are leaving exchanges. Fewer coins on exchanges generally means less readily available supply for immediate selling.

At the same time, stablecoin inflows into Binance have turned sharply positive, rising to +$34.4 million — a 440% increase against the 30-day average.

Binance Open Interest has also expanded around 9% over the quarter. Together, these figures suggest larger participants are quietly building exposure on the world’s largest crypto exchange.

When spot ETH leaves exchanges while fresh stablecoin capital flows in, the setup points toward potential purchasing activity.

It does not confirm a directional move, but it reflects a structural shift in how capital is being positioned ahead of whatever comes next.

Historical Patterns Support a Case for a Potential Reversal

Blade, a market analyst posting on X, drew attention to a recurring pattern in Ethereum’s cycle history. According to the post, ETH has already gone through two prior instances where price fell below key support, sentiment deteriorated, and a broad consensus formed around further downside — only for the asset to reverse and begin a new leg higher.

With ETH back below that same range at $1,630.83, the analyst noted that a third fakeout of the same kind could set the stage for a new all-time high. The post does not represent a guarantee, but the parallel holds up under scrutiny of prior cycle behavior.

What the on-chain data confirms is that the conditions underlying those prior reversals — shrinking retail activity, rising transfer values, and exchange outflows — are present again.

Whether that combination produces the same result remains to be seen. For now, the data shows who is still active in this market, and it is not retail.

XRP’s (XRP) onchain activity has contracted sharply since its 2025 peak. The 90-day network fee average fell by 91.5%, while the realized profit-to-loss ratio dropped to 0.38 from 50, according to Glassnode. 

The decline in activity and profitability comes as traders identify the $1.00-$0.65 region as a major area of interest.  

XRP profit-taking flips to network capitulation

According to Glassnode, the 90-day simple moving average of total fees paid on the XRP network has fallen to just 500 XRP from 5,900 XRP in February, a decline of 91.5%.

The network fees are often used as a proxy for transaction demand. The drop points to a sharp slowdown in activity following the speculative surge that carried XRP above $3 in the first half of 2025.

XRP total transaction fees. Source: Glassnode

XRP investor behavior has also shifted. Glassnode reported that XRP’s 90-day realized profit-to-loss ratio has fallen to 0.38, meaning market participants are realizing $1 in losses for every $0.38 in profits.

In January and July 2025, when the XRP price peaked near $3.40, the ratio reached 50 as profit-taking dominated the onchain flows. That balance has now reversed. This indicates that a larger share of onchain coins are being sold below their acquisition cost, a pattern commonly seen during capitulation phases.

XRP realized profit/loss ratio. Source: Glassnode

Exchange data offers a different view of holder activity. Crypto analyst Pelin Ay noted that transfers of more than 1 million XRP to Binance have declined since XRP’s 2025 peak. 

Historically, major corrections were preceded by sharp increases in both the 100,000–1 million XRP and 1 million-plus XRP inflow cohorts as large holders moved tokens to exchanges. 

The current data shows a sustained decline in exchange-bound XRP from large holders, with inflows from the 100,000–1 million XRP and 1 million-plus XRP cohorts decreasing by 15% and 20%, respectively, since October 2025. 

The analyst said the latest price weakness appears more closely tied to leverage-driven liquidations and risk-off sentiment than aggressive distribution by large holders.

XRP exchange inflows value bands on Binance. Source: CryptoQuant

Related: Arthur Hayes dumps WLD days after Maelstrom’s AI IPO pitch

$0.63 is the key area for accumulation

XRP’s weekly chart highlights a cluster of technical levels between $1.00 and $0.65.

A large fair value gap spans roughly $0.63 to $1.00, created during XRP’s rapid rally in late 2024. The price has already started moving back toward that zone after losing support near $1.40.

XRP/USDT, one-week chart. Source: Cointelegraph/TradingView

The visible-range volume profile data shows relatively light trading activity below current levels until a high-volume node around $0.50–$0.65. The point of control, which marks the price area with the highest traded volume, sits near $0.52–$0.55.

The same region aligns with XRP’s five-year ascending trendline, projected to intersect near $0.60–$0.65 in the coming months.

Some traders are already treating the zone as an accumulation range. Trader Crypto Patel identified $1.00 to $0.60 as a preferred buying range, while market analyst Javon Marks maintained his long-term breakout target of $15–$18, representing a 1,100% increase. 

XRP long-term analysis by Javon Marks. Source: X

Related: ETH crash to $1K looms if key support breaks: Will futures traders step in?

Botanix, a Bitcoin scaling network that set out to bring “real utility” to BTC without token incentives, is winding down after four years in operation.

In a Tuesday post on X, Botanix told users to withdraw all Bitcoin and other assets by July 9, after which remaining assets will be swept and “be unrecoverable.”

The decision comes despite integrations with major crypto infrastructure providers, including Chainlink, Fireblocks and Galaxy, and the launch of a consumer-facing Bitcoin neobank app.

Botanix’s Spiderchain architecture combines an Ethereum Virtual Machine-compatible chain with proof-of-stake-style consensus.

That structure allowed it to offer Ethereum-like programmability for Bitcoin while relying on a set of validators and a dynamic federation, rather than purely on Bitcoin’s own consensus for security and settlement.

In its shutdown notice, the team said the technology and products worked but failed to achieve sustainable product-market fit or economics.

Botanix shut-down notice. Source: Botanix

Botanix said most users still treat Bitcoin primarily as a reserve asset and yield vehicle rather than something they want to use frequently in onchain applications, and that existing demand for Bitcoin-backed decentralized finance (DeFi) is largely being met by wrapped BTC on Ethereum.

Related: Bitcoin payments held back by tax policy, not scaling tech: Crypto exec

The team also cited a broader concentration of attention and trading volume on large exchanges, trading platforms and traditional financial intermediaries, which left infrastructure-heavy networks like Botanix struggling to generate enough fee revenue to cover their costs.

Users have until July 9 to withdraw assets

Botanix has warned that anyone who does not remove their Bitcoin and other assets by July 9 will lose access, highlighting the practical risks for retail users when experimental DeFi platforms are wound down.

The shutdown comes as other projects seek to extend Bitcoin’s programmability, including Stacks and Rootstock, which operate independent blockchains linked to Bitcoin, and newer efforts such as Citrea, which uses different mixes of Bitcoin anchoring with the Bitcoin Virtual Machine (BitVM), zero-knowledge proofs and a token as a capital coordination mechanism.

Citrea co-founder and chief executive Orkun Mahir Kılıç told Cointelegraph Botanix’s experience is less an indictment of Bitcoin DeFi than of “a cloning-first approach” that largely replicated existing EVM protocols without offering long-term BTC holders a distinct value proposition. 

He argued that Citrea is instead focused on applications that “fundamentally require Bitcoin’s specific architecture and trust-minimized settlement,” rather than competing as one more general-purpose chain, pointing to use cases like private payments and Bitcoin-native capital markets rather than generic lending and trading forks.

Cointelegraph reached out to Botanix for comment but did not receive a response by publication.

Magazine: Bitcoin will not hit $1M by 2030, says veteran trader Peter Brandt

The team said that investor and treasury allocations have not been touched, sharing on-chain records for community verification.

Sahara AI’s SAHARA token crashed by roughly 60% on June 9, triggering over $23 million in liquidations.

The incident caused speculation across crypto markets, especially since it happened right around the time another protocol, Humanity, reported a breach that cost it $30 million and led to its native H token losing nearly 90% of its value.

What the Team Said, And What On-Chain Data Shows

After SAHARA suddenly plunged from around $0.034 to $0.014, per CoinGecko data, the team put out a post on X saying they were “aware of unusual market volatility” and that they had found no security issues in the platform’s token contracts or products. Further, they said they would provide more updates as additional information becomes available following an internal investigation.

However, after some on-chain observers questioned a transfer of 600 million SAHARA tokens, suggesting it may have caused the unusual price movement, the team had to make a follow-up post explaining that the large token transfer was a pre-planned fill of a Chainlink CCIP bridge contract done to provide liquidity for its recently launched cross-chain bridge.

Just as importantly, they stated that team and investor wallet allocations had not been touched on-chain and that “no team and investor tokens have been sold or moved.”

The team also provided a link to an Etherscan address so that those interested could verify that what they were saying was true, adding that they were still investigating the actual cause of the market movement separately from the bridge transfer.

Whether that explanation holds up to community scrutiny is another question. Data from CoinGlass shows that in the last 12 hours, $22.9 million in long positions were liquidated against only $354,000 in shorts, meaning that the vast majority of losses fell on traders who had been betting on the price going up.

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Sahara Down 90% From its Peak

The SAHARA token got listed on Binance in June 2025, and went on to hit an all-time high of $0.1605 the following month. But at the time of writing, it was trading almost 90% below that all-time high and was down over 50% in the last seven days and almost 54% over the past month.

The misfortune that hit it happened just a week after EDGE, the native token of the edgeX decentralized exchange, suddenly dropped by 71% and hit a new all-time low. And just like the Sahara team has done, the people behind edgeX also denied any security breach and, in their case, pointed to external manipulation, a claim that on-chain investigator ZachXBT publicly disputed.

In a subsequent report, edgeX noted that some of the centralized exchanges where EDGE is listed blamed the token’s collapse partly on thin liquidity conditions and not large-scale selling by the team.

Middle East tensions are escalating again as military strikes continue and Iran closes the Strait of Hormuz, further pressuring already fragile crypto markets. 

Iran has declared the Strait of Hormuz closed after the US launched additional strikes on Thursday.

The Iranian military command announced the closure of the key waterway, saying any vessel attempting passage will be shot at, according to Reuters.

US Central Command (CENTCOM) reported that it had launched strikes on Iranian military surveillance capabilities, communication systems, and air defense sites across the country.

“The strikes are in response to Iran’s unwarranted and continued aggression. US forces remain vigilant, lethal, and ready,” it stated on Thursday.

The news caused crude oil prices to rise more than 2.5%, with WTI hitting $93.50 per barrel and Brent crude topping $95, further pressuring global energy prices.

CPI Print Adds to Headwinds

The US Consumer Price Index rose to 4.2%, its highest level for three years, on Thursday as inflation continues to climb.

The inflation surge has derailed expectations that the Federal Reserve would cut rates this year, and analysts are now preparing for a rate hike.

“This pretty much cements ‘higher for longer’ with even modest hike risk later this year under new Chair Warsh, keeping real yields elevated, the dollar stronger, and liquidity tighter,” said Andri Fauzan Adziima, research lead at Bitrue Research Institute.

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“As a result, BTC feels fragile near $62K, still behaving like high-beta tech rather than a true hedge, while gold faces some near-term pressure despite its longer-term inflation appeal.”

Nevertheless, permabull “Sykodelic” said that long-term holders have “never had this much conviction,” because they now hold the highest ever amount at over 16.5 million BTC despite almost half being underwater.

What this data shows us is that long-term holders have added more than ever, and are happy to hold in loss, he said.

“After several heavy sell-offs on Bitcoin, it’s very likely we have reached the point that it’s only the truly convicted left.”

Longterm holders have never had this much conviction.

And they have also never been in this deep of a loss across the board.

Bitcoin longterm holders now hold the most amount ever, at over 16.5m Bitcoins.

And almost half of those coins are in loss, at the largest amount ever,… pic.twitter.com/CweqStF6pD

— Sykodelic 🔪 (@Sykodelic_) June 10, 2026

Crypto Market Outlook

However, the short-term crypto market outlook isn’t good.

While there has been no immediate reaction to the latest escalations in the Middle East, prospects of recovery over the next few months are diminishing.

Total capitalization is at roughly $2.2 trillion, near the lows last seen in October 2024.

Bitcoin dropped below $61,000 on Wednesday but recovered to top $62,000 during Thursday morning Asian trading. However, the path of least resistance for BTC and its brethren is down.

BitMine tripled its weekly ETH buy to 126,971 tokens, now holding 4.59% of supply.
Only 11% of ETH supply is in threefold profit, the lowest reading since Feb 2017.
A weekly close below $1,500 could push ETH toward the $1,000 support zone.

The Ethereum price dropped to a low of $1,522 last week before bouncing back within the $1,670–$1,712 range at the beginning of this week.

While the recovery is modest, the ETH price is still down 15.3% over the past seven days and 28.1% over the past 30 days. From its all-time high of $4,946 set in August 2025, the token has now shed roughly 66% of its value.

Yet while most retail traders were heading for the exit, BitMine Immersion made a huge purchase.

BitMine makes its biggest ETH buy of 2026

According to the circulated press release, BitMine (NYSE: BMNR) acquired 126,971 ETH last week, tripling its previous week’s purchase of 26,497 ETH.

That brings the company’s total holdings to 5,543,872 ETH, approximately 4.59% of Ethereum’s total supply.

BitMine has stated it intends to reach 5% ownership before the end of 2026, meaning it sits at 92% of that target today.

Currently, the company values its ETH position at roughly $9.04 billion.

Of that, 4,718,677 ETH, worth about $7.7 billion, is actively staked through BitMine’s MAVAN institutional staking platform at a current 7-day yield of 2.99%, generating a projected $230 million in annualized staking revenue.

Chairman Tom Lee has said that at full scale, staking rewards could reach $270 million annually.

Lee’s reasoning for the buy is straightforward. He said the price decline “does not reflect the strengthening of Ethereum’s fundamentals,” adding that the current environment represents the early stages of what he calls a “crypto spring.”

Lee also made a case for Ethereum’s longer-term relevance in the age of AI, arguing that as AI systems become more capable, demand for hardened, decentralized infrastructure will grow, and that Ethereum is positioned to benefit.

What the Ethereum price charts and on-chain data are saying

Despite the institutional buying, the technical picture for the Ethereum price remains bearish.

On the daily chart, ETH is trading well below its 20, 50, and 100-day exponential moving averages (EMAs), which are clustered between $1,874 and $2,178.

The 14-day RSI sits around 27, and the Stochastic oscillator is at 26, both in oversold territory, though neither has confirmed a reversal.

The MACD reads -143.07, sitting below its signal line of -118.76, while the Aroon Oscillator is at -78.57, indicating sellers still have the upper hand.

The on-chain data reinforces just how stressed this market is.

Only about 11% of Ethereum’s supply currently sits at a threefold profit margin, the lowest reading since February 2017.

Crypto analyst Ali Charts flagged this exact condition, posting on X that ETH trading below the 0.8 MVRV pricing band is a “high-probability long-term accumulation zone.”

He also identified a TD Sequential buy signal, which can suggest seller exhaustion, though it does not by itself confirm a trend reversal.

Ethereum $ETH below the 0.8 MVRV Pricing Band is a high-probability long-term accumulation zone.

Buy the dip! https://t.co/LNkygeXO5n pic.twitter.com/2GYDUzFnQi

— Ali Charts (@alicharts) June 8, 2026

Analyst Ash Crypto drew a parallel between the current price action and Ethereum’s June 2022 breakdown, when the Ethereum price collapsed to $880 before bottoming out and recovering.

He noted the current decline represents approximately 68% from the August 2025 peak near $4,953.

Ash’s view is that if the ETH price holds the $1,500 level on a weekly closing basis, a similar recovery pattern could follow.

However, he cautioned that a weekly candle closing below $1,500 could expose the next major support zone around $1,000.

$ETH has only done this once before in its entire history.

Back in June 2022, ETH broke through every support level and crashed to $880. Everyone gave up on it. That turned out to be the exact bottom of the whole bear market.

Now it’s June 2026, the same month, same breakdown,… pic.twitter.com/v8IulXZuPl

— Ash Crypto (@AshCrypto) June 8, 2026

On the ETF side, the picture is mixed. The US spot Ethereum ETFs saw $540 million in net outflows throughout May, followed by an additional $168 million in early June.

That said, June 8 marked a reversal, with $82.37 million in daily net inflows recorded, bringing total cumulative inflows to $11.28 billion with aggregate net assets standing at $9.36 billion.

Ethereum has also recorded roughly $66.3 million in liquidations over the past 24 hours, with $33.8 million on the long side, reflecting ongoing volatility and the risk that any short-term bounce remains fragile.

Ultimately, the seven-day trading range of $1,522–$1,980 captures just how wide the swings have been and whether the $1,500 zone holds, and whether BitMine’s conviction buy marks a turning point remains to be seen.

Meanwhile, the spot DOGE ETFs continue to disappoint with lackluster performance.

The leading meme coin was not spared from the market-wide calamity at the end of the previous business week, and its subsequent recovery is yet to impress.

However, this has allowed large investors to accumulate at lower prices. Santiment data shared by popular analyst Ali Martinez shows that the so-called whales have acquired over 200 million tokens in the past week alone.

The graph below demonstrates that their DOGE holdings kept increasing in the past several days, hitting 18.84 billion coins.

Over the past week alone, whales have accumulated more than 200 million Dogecoin $DOGE. https://t.co/PZF6Vdi85j pic.twitter.com/FW7XZig7YG

— Ali Charts (@alicharts) June 10, 2026

As mentioned above, DOGE was swept last week, especially on Friday, dipping below $0.08 for the first time since February 2025. Despite recovering slightly to $0.084 as of press time, the OG meme coin remains highly depressed, at 89% away from its May 2021 all-time high.

Martinez also warned recently that DOGE could be on the verge of a more profound decline if certain metrics align. As reported, he noted that the meme coin’s price action has followed multi-year consolidation channels, where it has repeatedly moved through extended ranges that compress volatility and redistribute supply before larger cycles begin.

Citing several on-chain metrics, he explained that DOGE could drop to $0.058 if the $0.081 floor gives in.

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Meanwhile, data from SoSoValue clearly shows that ETF investors have not expressed any interest in the largest meme coin. More specifically, there has been only one day of actual inflows since May 19: all the rest have seen no reportable action.

The three funds tracking the asset’s performance have attracted a very modest $12.44 million since their inception in late November 2025.

​The European Banking Authority and the New York State Department of Financial Services (NYDFS) have signed a memorandum of understanding to police cross-border stablecoin activities. 

The EBA said on Tuesday that the deal is part of its duties under the Markets in Crypto-Assets (MiCA) Regulation and sets out principles and procedures for exchanging information and coordinating stablecoin supervisory activities, market trends, and risks between New York and the European Union.

NYDFS said the deal would “enhance the supervision of entities engaged in stablecoin activities, identify market trends and risks, and promote the integrity of the stablecoin market.” 

Banks and major financial institutions in the US and Europe have tested using stablecoins for payments, spurred on by laws regulating the tokens in the US and EU. The global stablecoin market has grown to more than $319 billion as of Wednesday, according to DefiLlama.

Source: European Banking Authority 

Some of the information the two watchdogs will share includes the issued stablecoins, total volume in circulation, the number of holders, results of external and internal audits and the regulatory standing of specific products and services.

The MOU also provides a framework for the two regulators to assist each other and coordinate efforts during crises or emergencies. However, only supervised entities’ stablecoin-related activities will be monitored, not all activities a company might conduct.

Related: ‘Stablecoins’ are an outdated term from crypto’s early years: A16z

US President Donald Trump signed stablecoin regulations into law in July, while the European Union’s Markets in Crypto-Assets framework came into effect toward the end of 2024. US dollar-denominated stablecoins currently make up the lion’s share of activity in the sector, with Tether’s USDT and Circle’s USDC the two largest by market capitalization.

Jimmy Xue, co-founder of quantitative yield protocol Axis, told Cointelegraph in January that the global stablecoin market has largely plateaued after rapid expansion, entering a consolidation phase as new regulation, liquidity constraints, and higher real-world yields weigh on new issuance.

Xue added that a cautious macroeconomic environment, combined with competitive Treasury yields, further reduced appetite for rapid stablecoin expansion.

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WLD emerged as among the stronger performers in the market today after posting notable gains over the last 24 hours. This, after the token’s prices  surged by 12% to $0.54.

This move came on the back of buyers become increasingly aggressive, helping the altcoin build on its recent momentum on the charts.

Trading volume also picked up sharply during the rally, suggesting the move may be attracting broader market attention rather than being driven by a handful of trades. The network’s trading volume recorded a 13% surge to $1.83 billion.

Buyers are back in charge 

For much of the recent market weakness, sellers had little trouble pushing the prices lower. That dynamic might be changing though.

Recent order flow data revealed buyers taking a larger share of market activity. This might explain why Worldcoin [WLD] has been able to sustain its gains throughout the session. In fact, long positions accounted for 62% of the total market exposure at press time.

The rise in volume seemed to support that view too. More traders have been participating in the move, giving bulls a stronger foundation than they had during previous recovery attempts.

Is institutional demand also on the rise?

At the time of writing, institutional dynamics appeared to be in support of the positive buyer sentiments. This, after a period of playing averse to the ongoing volatile market. 

The network’s Total Open Interest, for instance, recorded a daily uptick of $70 million to hit a value of $286 million. 

Can WLD keep pushing higher?

The latest rally doesn’t automatically confirm a trend reversal, but it does show a clear shift in sentiment. At press time, the token was trading above a key EMA support with the demand zone between $0.58 to $0.65 the only key barrier ahead.

Buyers had momentum, volume was rising, and market participation seemed to be improving too. If those conditions remain in place, WLD could continue building on its recent gains in the sessions ahead.

All in all, WLD buyers showed up, volume followed, and WLD responded. That’s why the token is one of the market’s standout performers today.

Final Summary

Token approvals often accumulate unnoticed over time, creating potential exposure if previously trusted contracts become compromised.

Anthropic is reportedly set to release a public version of its Mythos AI model, and crypto analyst The DeFi Investor is urging decentralized finance users to act before that happens.

The concern is based on how good Mythos is at finding software vulnerabilities, and a version of it becoming widely accessible could accelerate the speed at which attackers discover and exploit weaknesses in DeFi protocols.

What the DeFi Community Needs to Do

In a June 9 post on X, The DeFi Investor advised followers to revoke all token approvals, use only heavily audited dApps, and spread funds across several wallets to reduce single points of failure.

For those who are not familiar, token approvals are permissions that users give to smart contracts, allowing the contracts to spend tokens on their behalf. They tend to accumulate silently over time, and they represent a standing attack surface if any approved contract is later found to be vulnerable.

“What’s scary about Mythos is that it’s insanely good at finding severe vulnerabilities,” wrote The DeFi Investor. “Claude Opus 4.8 has also recently identified a critical bug for Zcash, and Mythos is supposed to be even better than Opus 4.8.”

They added that DeFi will face a huge stress test in the next few months, and indeed, the Zcash vulnerability they mentioned gave a concrete illustration of this.

The privacy coin lost more than 35% of its value in one day after a security researcher using AI discovered a bug in its shielded Orchard pool that would’ve allowed bad actors to endlessly mint new ZEC tokens. It saw big-time crypto investor Arthur Hayes exit his entire ZEC position, as uncertainty mounted on whether anyone might have already exploited the flaw.

Mythos has been restricted since April to about 50 organizations, including Amazon, Apple, Google, and Microsoft, through an Anthropic initiative known as Project Glasswing, in an attempt to put the model’s capabilities to work for defensive purposes. According to Bloomberg, Anthropic plans to expand that circle by 150 more organizations across 15 countries.

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However, multiple sources, including TFTC and journalist Alex Heath, have claimed that the public version of Mythos will carry “substantial guardrails” and will not be as permissive as what Project Glasswing partners can access.

A Debate DeFi Was Already Having

The DeFi Investor’s security tips have come at a time when a conversation has been building around the viability of decentralized finance.

In late May, OpenZeppelin co-founder Manuel Aráoz declared “all of DeFi unsafe” and said he had advised people to exit positions in major protocols, including Aave, MakerDAO, and Compound. His reason for doing that was that AI has tilted the security balance so far toward attackers that no protocol can currently be trusted to safely hold users’ funds.

And truly, many crypto projects have been hit in the last few months, including attacks on KelpDAO and Drift Protocol in April, which led to the loss of more than $570 million combined. More recently, hackers reportedly siphoned at least $30 million worth of Humanity Protocol’s H token from 17 wallets.

However, according to Aave Chan Initiative founder Mark Zeller, the fears about AI have been overblown, with fewer than 10% of DeFi security failures in the past year having been caused by code-level vulnerabilities.

Anthropic’s own position, per Bloomberg, is that in the long run, AI will favor defenders, but “the transitional period will be fraught.”