News linked to both this project and an event.
Kelp DAO has announced the migration of its restaking token rsETH to Chainlink CCIP, citing enhanced security as the reason for this move. Previously, a cross-chain bridge built by Kelp DAO on LayerZero was attacked on April 18, with hackers stealing approximately 116,500 rsETH, valued at around $292 million, and using the assets as collateral to borrow WETH on Aave v3.Regarding the cause of the vulnerability, LayerZero previously stated that the issue stemmed from Kelp DAO using a single DVN verification path configuration rather than multiple independent verifications. Kelp DAO responded that this configuration was the default setting and that LayerZero had confirmed its security without flagging any related risks. LayerZero CEO Bryan Pellegrino subsequently denied this claim, stating that Kelp DAO had proactively modified the default multi-DVN configuration. Both parties continue to dispute responsibility for the incident. (Cointelegraph)
According to Cointelegraph, DeFi protocol Aave filed an emergency motion in New York on Monday seeking to vacate a restraining notice issued by U.S. law firm Gerstein Harrow LLP, which prevents the Arbitrum DAO from transferring 30,766 ETH to victims of the Kelp exploit. Gerstein Harrow LLP served the restraining notice on the Arbitrum DAO last Friday, asserting that its client is entitled to over $877 million in damages under a default judgment against North Korea. The firm claims that the North Korean hacking group behind the April 18 Kelp exploit previously held these tokens and that its client therefore holds a legal claim to the relevant ETH.
the Compound Foundation stated on X platform that, in coordination with the Kelp and Aave teams, and to avoid disrupting broader DeFi recovery efforts, the Comet markets for WETH and wstETH on Ethereum have resumed trading. It also noted that depending on the specific timing of Kelp's thawing of rsETH, temporary suspensions may still occur in relevant markets during the liquidation window for vulnerability-related positions. Specific arrangements have yet to be determined.
Aave LLC has submitted an emergency motion requesting the dismissal of the asset freeze notice issued against ArbitrumDAO on May 1, 2026. The notice involves approximately $71 million worth of ETH, assets belonging to users affected by the attack on April 18. Aave stated that stolen assets do not grant legal ownership through theft, and the relevant funds were originally intended for restitution to affected users; the freeze instead hinders the compensation process.Aave has requested an emergency hearing from the court to temporarily lift the freeze measure, while stating that it will continue to collaborate with the Arbitrum community and DeFiUnited to advance user compensation efforts.
According to Cointelegraph, U.S. law firm Gerstein Harrow LLP has filed an application with the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York seeking a temporary restraining order and three writs of execution to prevent the Arbitrum DAO from transferring 30,766 ETH (valued at approximately $73 million) frozen following the Kelp vulnerability. The firm argues that its clients obtained default judgments against North Korea in U.S. courts in 2010, 2015, and 2016, entitling them to roughly $877 million in compensation—and contends that the stolen ETH constitutes North Korean-linked assets that should be used to satisfy those judgments. Kelp DAO suffered a $292 million hack on April 18; the attacker was identified as TraderTraitor, a subgroup of the North Korean state-sponsored hacking group Lazarus Group. Aave Labs previously proposed unfreezing the seized funds and transferring them into the “DeFi United” fund to compensate rsETH holders—but this legal action by Gerstein Harrow may significantly delay compensation for victims. Members of the Arbitrum DAO community have criticized the move, arguing it shifts the burden of North Korea’s debts onto another set of victims, thereby exacerbating the original harm. Gerstein Harrow had previously pursued litigation related to the 2023 Heco Bridge hack involving Teth
Odaily News ether.fi CEO Mike Silagadze posted on X platform to explain the reason behind the company's commitment of 5,000 ETH to the Kelp hack recovery fund. He stated that the team believes this incident posed a real risk of "destroying the entire DeFi ecosystem." If Kelp were to go bankrupt, $1.5 billion worth of rsETH could be frozen long-term, potentially bringing the $30 billion Aave lending market to a standstill and triggering a cascading collapse across both DeFi and CeFi, which he described as making "FTX look insignificant by comparison." Mike Silagadze added that while most institutions chose to step back and defer to legal counsel, proactively taking responsibility and quickly raising funds to plug the gap was the right choice to help avert the worst-case scenario.
Circle Ventures, Consensys, and Joseph Lubin have announced their support for the DeFi United initiative, aimed at mitigating losses caused by the Kelp DAO vulnerability. Circle Ventures is supporting the ecosystem by purchasing AAVE tokens. Consensys and Ethereum co-founder Joseph Lubin have confirmed the provision of 30,000 ETH to DeFi United. To date, DeFi United has raised over 132,000 ETH, with a total value exceeding $300 million. These funds will be used to cover bad debts resulting from an attacker minting unbacked rsETH via the LayerZero bridge and borrowing assets on Aave. Previously, Aave proposed a donation of 25,000 ETH, while Lido DAO, Ether.fi, and Kelp have respectively proposed or pledged donations of 2,500 ETH, 5,000 ETH, and 2,000 ETH.
Odaily报道 According to Ai Yi monitoring, a Galaxy Digital OTC-related address (0x16F...1Fde) has deposited 15,000 ETH, worth $34.74 million, to an exchange. These funds originated from 38,000 ETH withdrawn from Aave a week ago, which was the day when Kelp DAO was attacked, causing Aave to potentially face bad debt.
according to on-chain analyst Ai Yi's monitoring, an address linked to the Balancer attacker has transferred 5,609 ETH, worth $13 million, to THORChain over the past 9 hours. In November 2025, Balancer was hacked for over $116 million, a incident with the same suspected culprit as the Aave attack, both pointing to the North Korean hacker group Lazarus Group. Both entities have recently been frequently using Tornado Cash for money laundering.
According to on-chain analyst Ai Aunt (@ai_9684xtpa), the address 0xb5E…Fc24e deposited a total of 1.397 million UNI tokens—worth approximately $4.6 million—into three exchanges two hours ago. Notably, the Bybit deposit address has had multiple interactions with the DeFi crypto fund DeFiance Capital, which is an investor in both Aave and LayerZero—two entities closely linked to the recent Kelp DAO hack incident.
According to information on the governance forum page, Mantle plans to provide Aave with a loan of 30,000 ETH to help it address the non-performing loan risk triggered by the recent attack. According to analyst Yujin’s statistics, confirmed rescue funds now cover a shortfall of approximately 43,500 ETH.
According to The Block, JPMorgan analysts noted in their latest report that ongoing DeFi security vulnerabilities and stagnant growth in total value locked (TVL) continue to constrain institutional enthusiasm for the DeFi sector. Recently, Kelp DAO’s cross-chain bridge suffered a major attack, during which the attacker minted $292 million worth of uncollateralized rsETH tokens and borrowed real ETH on Aave, resulting in approximately $230 million in bad debt. This caused DeFi TVL to evaporate by roughly $20 billion within several days. LayerZero and blockchain security researchers have attributed this attack to the North Korean hacker group Lazarus Group; some of the stolen funds have been frozen, while the rest remain in circulation. Analysts also pointed out that DeFi TVL denominated in ETH has remained range-bound for an extended period, raising market concerns about whether DeFi can achieve organic growth sufficient to support institutional adoption. Furthermore, following each security incident, users tend to shift funds into USDT as a safe-haven asset—yet this trend has not yet significantly driven USDT’s market capitalization growth.
According to information from the governance forum, Bybit’s public chain Mantle plans to lend 30,000 ETH to Aave to address the bad debt risks arising from recent security incidents.According to statistics from crypto analyst Ember (@EmberCN), the confirmed scale of bailout funds is estimated to cover a shortfall of approximately 43,500 ETH.
According to on-chain analyst Ember (@EmberCN), the rsETH incident on April 18 resulted in a funding shortfall of approximately 68,900 ETH (around $160 million): the hacker collateralized rsETH to borrow 99,600 ETH; after Arbitrum recovered 30,700 ETH, the remaining funds were fully converted by the hacker into BTC. The incident has now entered the remediation phase. Aave is coordinating the establishment of a “DeFi United” relief fund, which has so far received cumulative donations totaling 13,500 ETH (approximately $31.45 million). Donors include Lido Finance (2,500 stETH), ether.fi Foundation (5,000 ETH), Aave founder Stani Kulechov (5,000 ETH), Golem Foundation (1,000 ETH), as well as LayerZero and Ink Foundation (amounts undisclosed).
the Lido team has initiated a proposal, planning to allocate up to 2,500 stETH (approximately $5.8 million) from the DAO to cover the rsETH asset shortfall resulting from the recent attack on Kelp DAO.Lido noted that the LayerZero-based exploit has led to insufficient rsETH reserves, triggering a chain reaction across the DeFi ecosystem, including rising interest rate pressure, tightening lending markets, and certain leveraged strategies facing passive liquidation risks.The proposal emphasizes that these funds will only be used as part of a complete recovery solution, provided that the overall shortfall can be fully addressed.Previously, the approximately $292 million attack on Kelp DAO had already impacted Aave, leading to bad debt issues, and its total value locked (TVL) once declined by nearly $8 billion.
Aave released the latest update on the rsETH security incident on the X platform, announcing that it has paused rsETH reserve-related operations on the Ethereum mainnet as well as networks including Arbitrum, Base, Mantle, and Linea. This measure is intended to prevent excess aETHrsETH from being withdrawn, thereby pushing positions close to the 95% liquidation threshold. This action aims to preserve as much capital as possible and reduce systemic risk while the asset recovery plan is underway. Aave stated that further progress and resolution plans will be continuously disclosed to the community.
Aave announced the latest developments regarding the rsETH security incident on X, stating that rsETH-related reserve operations have been suspended on Ethereum Mainnet and on networks including Arbitrum, Base, Mantle, and Linea. This measure aims to preserve as much capital as possible and mitigate systemic risk while the asset recovery plan is underway. Aave stated that it will continue to disclose subsequent updates and resolution plans to the community.
Spark announced on X that the total staked native token SPK has just surpassed 500 million tokens, reaching 509,969,466 tokens according to its displayed data. Users staking SPK can now participate in Season 4 of the Spark Points Program and earn points rewards. Previously, due to the rsETH security incident, funds continuously flowed out of Aave, while Spark absorbed some of the capital withdrawn by large whales/institutions from Aave.
Michael Egorov (@newmichwill), founder of Curve Finance, posted that recent security incidents in the DeFi space—triggered by centralized failure points—have occurred frequently and severely damaged the industry’s reputation. Citing examples such as Aave users being unable to withdraw funds following the rsETH exploit and the LayerZero cross-chain bridge hack, he emphasized that problems must be prevented *before* they occur—not addressed only after damage is done. He called on the industry to jointly establish DeFi security standards, proposing that the Ethereum Foundation and Solana Foundation take the lead in collaborating with projects across ecosystems, auditing firms, and risk-assessment teams to develop principles and specifications for secure system design—and suggesting that lessons could be drawn from traditional finance’s approaches to safeguarding centralized nodes.
Aave risk service provider LlamaRisk has released an incident report: On April 18, 2026, the attacker exploited a vulnerability in Kelp’s LayerZero V2 Unichain-to-Ethereum rsETH routing (a 1-of-1 DVN configuration flaw), forged inbound packets, and illicitly released 116,500 rsETH from the Ethereum-side adapter. Of these, 89,567 rsETH were deposited as collateral into multiple Aave V3 markets—including Ethereum Core and Arbitrum—enabling the borrowing of approximately 82,650 WETH (valued at ~$191 million) and 821 wstETH. Currently, only 40,373 rsETH remain in the adapter, while the total claimable rsETH on the remote chain stands at 152,577—creating a substantial shortfall. Depending on the loss allocation methodology, Aave faces two potential bad-debt scenarios: - Scenario 1 (global pro-rata allocation): Estimated bad debt of ~$123.7 million, with Ethereum Core bearing the greatest pressure; - Scenario 2 (loss confined to L2s): Estimated bad debt of ~$230.1 million, with Mantle facing a WETH reserve shortfall of up to 71.45% and Arbitrum facing a 26.67% shortfall. Following the incident, Aave Protocol Guardians and Risk Administrators immediately froze rsETH/wrsETH reserves across all 11 affected markets.