Lido DAO Proposes Authorizing the Use of the First-Loss Fund to Cover Losses from the Kelp Incident

According to the Lido Governance Forum, Lido Earn contributors have submitted a proposal to the DAO requesting authorization to deploy the existing First Loss Reserve to cover losses arising from the Kelp incident, waiving the original 1% threshold requirement. It is estimated that, assuming the DeFi United rescue plan succeeds, the remaining borrowing-rate losses for Lido Earn’s leveraged staking/re-staking positions will amount to approximately 400–600 ETH. Contributors stated they will collaborate with curators to jointly absorb these losses; however, full coverage by curators alone is currently deemed unrealistic. The proposal stresses that this authorization constitutes a one-time exception specific to the Kelp incident and does not alter the standard 1% threshold rule, does not involve additional treasury allocations, and is not intended to subsidize APY or support post-recovery yields. It further notes that if litigation arises from these losses, associated legal costs alone could reach several hundred thousand dollars. Given that the rsETH situation is expected to be resolved within 5–10 days—and considering the standard snapshot voting window is 7 days—the proposers emphasize the time-sensitive nature of this vote. After resolution, the team plans to publish a comprehensive post-mortem report and advance improvements to risk frameworks and operational mechanisms.