Maximal extractable value (MEV) bots on the decentralized social media application Friend.tech have profited more than $2 million from the platform.

The TRON (TRX) network exhibited considerable growth in Q2 in daily active accounts, new accounts, and transactions, as metrics increased by 14%, 13.4%, and 28.9%, respectively, according to a recent report by Messari.

Tron Q2 Growth.

This growth coincided with the launch of BitTorrent Bridge and Stake 2.0, among other developments, showing promising expansion of the network’s capabilities and user engagement.

Messari’s report notes that the surge in network activity boosted revenue by 11.6% quarter-over-quarter in TRX terms, translating to a 22.2% increase when measured in USD.

Interestingly, the revenue growth led to a significant amount of TRX being burned, supporting the token’s value in an otherwise flat-to-down market. TRX outperformed most Layer 1 tokens during the quarter, with its market cap swelling by 14.7% compared to the average 23% decline of other major L1 tokens.

The report also highlighted TRON’s ongoing efforts to expand DeFi as applications and infrastructure providers began integrating TRX liquid staking and the decentralized resource marketplace.

TRON’s most prominent DeFi protocols, such as JustLend, JustStables, SUN, and JustMoney, saw increased Total Value Locked (TVL) during the period, reflecting vibrant activity in the network’s DeFi sector.

Across the network, TVl grew 7% when denominated in dollars, but the underlying amount of TRX fell by 7.9%.

The attacker who targeted Curve Finance, a decentralized finance (DeFi) protocol, has begun returning some of the stolen funds. The attacker sent 4,821 Ethereum (ETH), worth approximately $9 million, in a series of transactions to Alchemix Finance, one of the victims.

Earlier today, the attacker had sent an on-chain message to Alchemix, asking the protocol to confirm its address before the funds were sent. The attacker further explained that he returned funds because he did not want to ruin the projects.

Information on social media platform X(formerly Twitter) suggests that Friend.tech founders 0xRacerAlt and Shrimppepe have connections to a failed NFT project, Kosetto.

Kosetto NFTs

Kosetto is a tradeable NFT wearables project launched last December on Ethereum. The project, which consisted of 1,689 items, sparked significant excitement with users flooding social media platforms with posts about it. However, after it had introduced a Chrome extension for its NFTs in January, the project went silent in February after promising that “something big was coming.”

OpenSea’s data shows that the floor price of the collection is currently 0.01 ETH, around $17. The last sale for the NFTs occurred in February, with its total sales volume at only 5 ETH.

As of press time, Kosetto’s website was unavailable, displaying an Error 402.

Describing the project’s sudden demise, Justin Kalland, the Vice President of Innovation at Horizen Labs Ventures, said:

“The entire thing just disappeared, last update was in January that a Chrome extension was available. No communication or warning to users.”

Link to Friend.tech founders

On X, several crypto community members have pointed out that the struggling NFT project was linked to the Friend.tech founders.

Kalland pointed out that a search of 0xRacerAlt’s tweet shows that they have deleted several links to the NFT project and that the Friend.tech founder held an official position on Kosetto Discord.

CryptoSlate confirmed that 0xRacerAlt and Shrimppepe play an active role in Kosetto’s Discord community.