Whales lost millions on the Trump-linked WLFI token as its price dropped more than 40%, despite a token burn event. Out of 85,000 pre-sale holders, 60% still held the token. Whales suffered losses, with one losing over $1.6 million. Confidence in the token weakened as other whales exited positions at a loss.

Avalanche blockchain saw increased activity driven by DEXs, trading bots, and whale memecoin speculation. Avalanche’s transaction growth surpassed all other blockchains, with over 11.9 million transactions. The surge was mainly fueled by DeFi traders, MEV trading bots, and whale speculation on memecoins, as well as blockchain gaming and NFTs.

DeFi lending protocols have surged 72% year-to-date, reaching over $127 billion in total value locked. This growth is attributed to institutional adoption of stablecoins and tokenized real-world assets. Maple Finance and Euler saw significant rises. DeFi lending protocols are expected to facilitate more institutional participation in the future.

Mantle 2.0 aims to accelerate the convergence between decentralized and centralized finance by becoming the institutional liquidity chain for tokenized real-world assets. Initially launched as an Ethereum layer-2 scaling solution, Mantle Network consolidated into Mantle 2.0. This new phase is expected to enhance DeFi liquidity and promote collaboration between traditional and decentralized finance. Bybit executives are now key advisers in the Mantle 2.0 project, aiming to merge CeFi and DeFi. Bybit exchange launched exclusive campaigns for MNT token holders on Aug. 18. Bybit and Mantle unveiled a joint roadmap on Aug. 29, offering various benefits to MNT holders within the Bybit ecosystem.

Venus Protocol helped a user recover $13.5 million stolen in a phishing attack linked to North Korea’s Lazarus Group. The platform paused operations and conducted audits to ensure smart contracts and front end were secure. An emergency governance vote allowed the recovery of stolen tokens from the attacker’s wallet.

MemeCore (M) saw a 236% increase, making it the top gainer among the 100 largest cryptocurrencies last week. Pump.fun (PUMP) token from a memecoin launchpad rose over 41%. Total value locked in DeFi continued to rise, reflecting the sector’s growth and potential. Stay tuned for more DeFi updates next week.

Read more at cointelegraph.com: Trump-linked WLFI’s 40% decline causes millions in losses for crypto whales