Welcome to Finance Redefined, your weekly dose of essential decentralized finance (DeFi) insights — a newsletter crafted to bring you significant developments over the last week. In the aftermath of a deadly 7.8-magnitude earthquake in southeastern Turkey, the Web3 community has come together to raise awareness and aid for disaster victims. Stablecoins could prove to be a critical factor in larger DeFi adoption, says Aave founder Stani Kulechov. According to the Aave executive, building the “payment layer,” which involves stablecoins, can potentially hook regular people into the space, eventually introducing them into DeFi. On the other hand, S&P Global Ratings …

There is an educational website for beginning crypto users called ZeFi. The site has helpful introductory lessons, some interesting articles and a look of sincerity, much like other sites. However, none of it is that different — at least not in English. Its special feature is the language button in the upper right corner that reveals the Arabic version of the website. “There is really nothing about blockchain in Arabic. […] And once you find something in Arabic, it is mostly influencers that are trying to pump and dump coins,” ZeFi founder and CEO Karam Alhamad said. The Arabic version …

We’re living today “amidst an explosion of risk related to fraud, money laundering, terrorist financing, and data privacy,” said United States Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen in February — and she specifically cited cryptocurrencies as a “tool to finance terrorism.” Yellen appeared to be flagging an important new turn in the war against terror, and it begged some questions: Is crypto in the hands of terrorists a real, present danger to governments and society? If so, should the cryptocurrency and blockchain industry be worried? Recent evidence suggests that crypto’s role as an enabler of terrorism globally remains relatively minor. “Cryptocurrencies have …

BitPay will have to pay the U.S. Treasury's Office of Foreign Asset Control over half a million dollars for crypto services to sanctioned regions. In a Feb. 18 announcement of the settlement, OFAC said that BitPay had facilitated "approximately $129,000 worth of digital currency-related transactions with BitPay’s merchant customers" by users from Crimea, Cuba, North Korea, Iran, Sudan and Syria — effectively the full range of geographical sanctions that OFAC has in place. OFAC repeated that crypto firms need to align themselves with sanctions programs, saying: "This action emphasizes that OFAC obligations apply to all U.S. persons, including those involved …

Sentry is an an app developed by Hala Systems that has been providing civilians with a crowdsourced and sensor-driven early warning system against airstrikes during the protracted civil war in Syria. Live since 2016, the system has evolved to become more accurate and complex, using a sensor network, artificial intelligence and blockchain technology to provide a strong, technological underpinning for analyzing data on the ground and distributing critical alerts. Sentry now issues an average of 140 early warnings each day, giving citizens between seven and 10 minutes’ advance notice of potential dangers. The data inputs for the warning system include …

This article previously contained statements implying that Binance DEX itself — rather than its website — was geoblocking users. It has been updated for accuracy. The decentralized exchange (DEX) developed by major cryptocurrency exchange Binance will block website access to users based in 29 countries. The Binance DEX website informs potential users of the restriction via a message that appears when accessing the platform from one of the regions. The message appearing on the platform states that accessing the website from certain countries will be restricted starting on July 1: “It seems you are accessing www.binance.org from an IP address …

UN Women — a United Nations entity for gender equality and empowering women — will use blockchain technology for cash transfers in Jordanian refugee camps, according to a UN press release September 18. Per the announcement, UN Women in partnership with the World Food Programme (WFP) will use blockchain technology for money transactions at Za’atari and Azraq camps. The cumulative population of both camps is over 115,000. Women refugees participating in the UN Women cash for work program will be able to obtain their money directly without the assistance of third parties like banks. The initiative will explore two options, …

Arab markets were flooded with new investors in April after an Islamic scholar announced cryptocurrency is halal under Sharia law. The announcement settled contradicting statements issued by several other Islamic experts, but there are still conflicting interpretations of Sharia’s allowance of virtual currencies among Muslim leaders. The mufti’s announcement opened crypto markets to potentially 1.6 billion new customers, but it is certain that Middle Eastern governments will play a central role in the development of the crypto industry in order to ensure individuals and institutions adhere to Sharia law. Sharia law places strict guidelines on economic activity whereby value must …