Decentralized finance (DeFi) protocol Akropolis has lost $2 million worth of DAI in an exploit through a flash loan taken on dYdX.

Fintech giant PayPal has ditched the waitlist for its cryptocurrency service and opened it up to all eligible PayPal account holders in the United States, who can now buy, sell, and hold crypto using its platform. The firm also raised the amount crypto users can buy per week.

The President of the European Central Bank, Christine Lagarde, has revealed she believes a digital version of the euro will be launched in the next two to four years.

Top stories in the Crypto Roundup today:

• DeFi Project Akropolis Loses $2 Million in DAI in Exploit
• PayPal Removes Crypto Service Waitlist, Boosts Buying Limit to $20,000
• ECB President Says Digital Euro Could Launch in 2 to 4 Years

DeFi Project Akropolis Loses $2 Million in DAI in Exploit

Decentralized finance (DeFi) protocol Akropolis has lost $2 million worth of DAI in an exploit through a flash loan taken on dYdX.

According to an update from the team behind the project, a post-mortem analysis is forthcoming and ways to reimburse those affected are being exploited. Akropolis is a DeFi lending and savings service provider that allows users to take our loans or earn yield with cryptocurrency deposits.

The savings side of the service, which utilizes Curve, was exploited in the attack. The attacker took out a series of flash loans to attack Akropolis’ YCurve and sUSD savings pools. Akropolis noted that the majority of the funds on the protocol are safe.

All stablecoin pools have since been paused and exchanges have been informed of the hack. Flash loans, it’s worth noting, are loans taken and repaid in a single transaction that require no collateral.

PayPal Ditches Crypto Service Waitlist, Boosts Buying Limit to $20,000

Fintech giant PayPal has ditched the waitlist for its cryptocurrency service and opened it up to all eligible PayPal account holders in the United States, who can now buy, sell, and hold crypto using its platform. The firm also raised the amount crypto users can buy per week.

After confirming its crypto plans in late October, PayPal sent shockwaves across the industry. In a recent earnings call made earlier this month, PayPal’0s CEO Dan Schulman said only 10% of its customers in the U.S. had access to the crypto service at the time.

Citing steep demand, PayPal has since raised the weekly crypto purchase limits from $10,000 to $20,000, and made the service available to açl eligible U.S. customers. Aaron Gould, a PayPal spokesman, said:

“Due to initial demand from our customers, we’ve also increased our weekly cryptocurrency purchase limit from $10K/week to $20K/week.”

The firm still plans to bring its crypto services to Venmo and to expand it to international customers in the first half of 2021.

ECB President Says Digital Euro Could Launch in 2 to 4 Years

The President of the European Central Bank, Christine Lagarde, has revealed she believes a digital version of the euro will be launched in the next two to four years.

On a virtual panel with Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell and Bank of England Governor Andrew Bailey, Lagarde said:

“We might well go in that direction. My hunch is that it will come.”

Officials from the European Central Bank have in the past disclosed they are conducting research into a central bank digital currency, with Bank of Finland Governor Oli Rehn telling Reuters last month he believes a digital euro is “very likely” to be launched in the next decade.

Lagarde pointed out a digital euro would take extensive time to develop, not just because of the underlying technology necessary but also because of anti-money laundering and terrorism financing controls.

Bitcoin Takes Weekends Off

Bitcoin data on the Flipside Data Cooperative indicates that trading activity for BTC slows down considerably on the weekends. The bar chart indeed shows a clear pattern, with lower withdrawals and deposits made on weekends compared to business days. This is not the case for other chains like Cardano or Cosmos. It suggests that the majority of BTC transactions are sent by professional investors who only work Monday through Friday. 

State of the Crypto by Top Tier Exchange Volume

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