The decentralized finance (DeFi) ecosystem was filled with ups and downs —mostly the latter— this week, with two very distinct hack attempts and a heartbreaking departure of a DeFi veteran.

In this week’s newsletter, we will also look at derivative exchange dYdX’s plans to go fully decentralized by the end of the year. Although the price momentum for DeFi tokens was neutral, several tokens experienced a bullish spike. However, the market volatility meant many of them couldn’t hold onto those gains.