Is DeFi Still DeFi?

Is DeFi evolving or compromising? Aave, BitGo, and Schwab might have the answer.

July 22, 2025

In partnership with

Greetings, Frens👋,

GM. This is FOMOchain. Welcome back to everyone who’s here only because prices are going up again.

(No shame. We missed you.)

Here’re the quick highlights from the week:

  • 🏦 Aave's Centralized DeFi Bet: Entering Kraken’s Ink Chain

  • 📈 BitGo’s IPO Dreams Get Real as Custody Tops $100B

  • 🧯 CoinDCX Hacked for $44M, Launches White Hat Bounty

  • 💰 Strategy Adds Another $740M in BTC at ATH

  • 🧠 SEC Eyes “Innovation Exemption” for Tokenization

  • 💼 Schwab Gets Serious: Spot BTC & ETH Trading Coming

This past week delivered everything from regulatory shifts and major product launches to eye-popping hacks and surprising IPO plans. If crypto were a Netflix show, you’d be binge-watching by now.

Let’s break it down. This is your no-fluff debrief on the biggest movers, shakers, and breakers in crypto.

🏦 Aave's Centralized DeFi Bet: Entering Kraken’s Ink Chain

Fren’s, let’s begin with the most “DeFi meets TradFi” move of the week.

Aave’s community just approved with a whopping 99.8% in favor of a proposal to deploy a centralized version of Aave v3 on Kraken’s Ink blockchain.

📌 What’s happening?
The ARFC (Aave Request for Comment) serves as a soft-launch signal before an onchain DAO vote. Now that the community is on board, an Aave Improvement Proposal (AIP) will be drafted to formalize the move.

📌 Why does it matter?
This isn’t just another chain deployment. Kraken’s Ink blockchain, unveiled in late 2024, is designed for compliant institutional DeFi - think KYCed access, regulatory clarity, and tokenized assets.

“It’s a chance to expand Aave’s tech and tap new revenue streams,” reads the ARFC.

The real kicker? Aave DAO will receive a minimum 5% Reserve Factor based on borrowing volume. Plus, the Ink Foundation has pledged liquidity incentives worth $250M. Not small potatoes.

📣Would you use a centralized version of Aave on Kraken's Ink? Why or why not? Hit reply and share your take - we might feature it next week.

📈 BitGo’s IPO Dreams Get Real as Custody Tops $100B

BitGo is making a serious TradFi move - filing for an IPO in the U.S. after its assets under custody shot past $100B, nearly doubling from $60B at the start of 2025.

While the IPO details remain confidential (standard Form S-1), the optics are big: One of crypto’s oldest infrastructure firms is going public during a market resurgence.

More than that, BitGo recently got regulatory approval in the EU under MiCA, signaling its intent to go truly global.

👀 What does this mean?
Custody is no longer the boring backend. With ETH ETFs live, and tokenization projects scaling, custody is front and center in both DeFi and TradFi narratives.

🧯 CoinDCX Hacked for $44M, Launches White Hat Bounty

Another week, another exploit - but this one ends with some optimism.

India’s CoinDCX confirmed a $44 million exploit on its internal liquidity provision accounts last Friday. Thankfully, user funds were untouched.

But here’s what’s unique: CEO Sumit Gupta launched a white hat recovery bounty, offering up to 25% of any recovered funds to ethical hackers.

His tone was sober but determined:

“More than recovering the funds, we need to catch the attackers—this shouldn’t happen again, to anyone.”

CoinDCX joins a growing list of hacked Indian exchanges, trailing last year’s $235M WazirX hack and Bybit’s historic $1.4B exploit.

📣 Should exchanges make white hat bounties standard practice post-hack? Let us know what you think.

💰 Strategy Adds Another $740M in BTC at ATH

Michael Saylor’s Strategy (formerly MicroStrategy) did it again - this time adding 6,220 BTC worth $739.8 million last week as Bitcoin cracked $122,000.

The firm’s BTC holdings now total 607,770 BTC, acquired at an average price of $71,756.

Quick math? Strategy is up nearly 65% on its Bitcoin stack.

Even more interesting - Saylor said this week that they’re “not buying an idea, they’re buying money itself.”

Love him or not, Saylor keeps doubling down.

🧠 SEC Eyes “Innovation Exemption” for Tokenization

SEC Chair Paul Atkins may be shifting gears in how the commission approaches tokenized assets.

Speaking last Friday, he floated the idea of an “innovation exemption” that would allow experimental onchain finance projects some regulatory breathing room.

His message:

“If it can be tokenized, it will be tokenized.”

Atkins praised the GENIUS Act, passed by the House last week, which shifts stablecoin oversight to banking regulators. The Act is seen as a step forward for clear rules on tokenized securities and stablecoin issuance.

Even Ethereum devs were surprised - in a good way.

“This is the clearest signal yet that DeFi is winning the regulatory argument,” said ETH builder Eric Conner.

💼 Schwab Gets Serious: Spot BTC & ETH Trading Coming

Charles Schwab - yes, that Charles Schwab - is gearing up to launch spot Bitcoin and Ethereum trading.

CEO Rick Wurster told CNBC that Schwab clients already hold 20% of the crypto ETP market, but most of their crypto is elsewhere.

That’s a trust gap Schwab hopes to close:

“They want us to sit alongside their other assets.”

With $10.8 trillion in total client assets and $25B already allocated to crypto, Schwab is well-positioned to bridge TradFi and crypto for the everyday investor.

📣 Would you move your crypto holdings to Schwab for security and consolidation? Or stick with native wallets? Reply and tell us.

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⏳ One Last Thing…

While Aave’s pivot to a centralized chain may feel like a contradiction, it’s part of a larger trend: DeFi protocols going TradFi to meet institutions where they are.

Whether it’s through Kraken’s Ink, BitGo’s IPO ambitions, or Schwab’s crypto rollout - the wall between decentralized ideals and centralized infrastructure is thinning.

The real question is: Can crypto stay true to its ethos as it scales?

Let’s keep watching. 👀

Thanks for reading FOMOchain’s crypto dive.

Stay tuned, frens.
We’ll be tracking Q2 week by week - and as always, decoding the signal from the noise.

Until next time,
From FOMOchain Team.