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ARTICLE · 02 SEPTEMBER 2022

FBI Warns About Cybersecurity Problems On DeFi Platforms

Hogan Lovells Cadwalader
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The PSA reports that in just three months of 2022, "cyber criminals stole $1.3 billion in cryptocurrencies, almost 97 percent of which was stolen from DeFi platforms."

United StatesFinance and Banking

Decentralized finance platforms (DeFi) are designed to operate in a decentralized manner primarily through the utilization of smart contracts. Smart contracts are simply a name given to small "if/then" statements written in computer code that are self-executing. Smart contracts are used throughout the cryptocurrency and blockchain space, are an integral component in non-fungible tokens (NFTs), and can allow for things to happen automatically, without human intervention. For example, a smart contract could be coded such that payment for an item could be released upon receipt of a shipment, so if the shipment is received, then payment is released.

In the case of DeFi platforms, the coded smart contracts allow for trading of cryptocurrency, stocks, and ETFs; funds to be transferred between parties; and even loans to be made that are secured by crypto or other investments. These smart contracts interact with the blockchain, but in most cases are not written to the

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