News linked to both this project and an event.
Blockworks has announced the completion of a Series A extension funding round, achieving a post-money valuation of $192 million. The round was co-led by ParaFi Capital and Reciprocal Ventures, with support from Coinbase Ventures, MoonPay Ventures, and several other institutions and industry participants. The funding also attracted investments from over 20 founders and operators of ecosystem projects including Solana, LayerZero, Arbitrum, and Kraken, though the specific amount raised has not been disclosed.The company stated that while the crypto market has grown to a trillion-dollar scale lacking traditional capital market infrastructure, it still faces issues such as fragmented data, inconsistent disclosure standards, and a lack of investor communication mechanisms. Blockworks aims to fill this gap through a "data + disclosure + investor relations" tripartite architecture. (CNBC)
LayerZero Labs announced on platform X that it has committed over 10,000 ETH in support to DeFi United, led by Aave. Specific actions include donating 5,000 ETH to DeFi United, depositing 5,000 ETH into the Aave market to enhance liquidity, and deepening GHO liquidity.
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.
Aave announced that its ecosystem partners and service providers will establish a recovery fund to promote the full asset backing of rsETH. This plan has comprehensively considered the pending Aave DAO governance votes (including the Arbitrum governance vote), indicative protocols, and subsequent successful execution. Aave stated that it has reached an agreement with KelpDAO and LayerZero on the technical steps required to execute the recovery plan, and related work is progressing. Addressing the issues of affected users and maintaining the stability of the broader DeFi ecosystem are the current top priorities. The final recovery plan, user action steps, and further updates will be announced in the near future.
Ethena officially announced that the LayerZero cross-chain bridge functionality for sUSDe and USDe has been fully restored across all chains. To enhance security, Ethena has upgraded the Decentralized Verification Network (DVN) configuration on each chain from 2/2 to 4/4, while maintaining the existing rate limit of $10 million per hour. The official team stated that further updates will be provided as needed.
ether.fi announced on X that the weETH cross-chain bridge powered by LayerZero is now fully restored across all chains, with liquidity minting and redemption functionalities re-enabled. For security, the ether team has increased the number of DVNs (Decentralized Verification Nodes) from two to four and implemented stricter rate-limiting mechanisms to further enhance system security. Additionally, related services will be gradually restored under the guidance of security partners, with more updates to follow.
According to an official Dune disclosure, following the KelpDAO hack, Dune conducted a security configuration analysis of LayerZero’s DVN (Decentralized Verification Network) for nearly 90 days of active OApps. The data shows that among approximately 2,665 distinct OApp contracts, 47% adopted the 1-of-1 DVN security threshold—the lowest level—45% adopted 2-of-2, and roughly 5% adopted 3-of-3 or higher configurations; KelpDAO’s rsETH resides at the 1-of-1 tier, the minimum security level.
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.
Odaily News Kelp DAO officially posted on X regarding the follow-up on the theft incident, stating that the cause was the compromise of two RPC nodes hosted by LayerZero, while the third RPC node suffered a DDoS attack. This was an attack targeting LayerZero's infrastructure; Kelp's own systems were not involved in the construction or operation of this infrastructure.The 1/1 DVN configuration is the scheme documented in LayerZero's documentation and is the default setting for all new OFT deployments. Kelp has been operating on LayerZero's infrastructure since January 2024 and has maintained open communication with the LayerZero team. During Kelp's expansion to Layer2, the DVN configuration was discussed, and the default configuration was explicitly confirmed as appropriate at that time.Kelp's current top priority is to protect user interests and prevent risks from spreading within the DeFi ecosystem. The team is collaborating with various parties in the ecosystem to analyze the impact, seek support, and explore all possible mitigation solutions.
According to an official post on Ethena’s X account, due to the absence of a satisfactory root-cause analysis regarding the rsETH incident, Ethena has decided to extend the suspension period for its LayerZero OFT cross-chain bridge. Meanwhile, Ethena released its latest Proof of Reserves, independently verified by four third-party entities—Chainlink, Chaos Labs, LlamaRisk, and Harris & Trotter—confirming that USDe’s collateral coverage ratio remains above 100%. The verification results have been published on Ethena’s Transparency Page and Data Dashboard. Ethena stated it will continue monitoring the situation and provide updates as they become available.
Odaily News: A LayerZero cross-chain bridge related to Kelp DAO was hacked on Saturday, resulting in 116,500 rsETH worth $291 million flowing to a new wallet. The hacker used the illicitly obtained rsETH as collateral to borrow on Aave, causing the utilization rate of Aave's core lending pool to reach 100% and triggering a liquidity crunch. According to monitoring by 0xngmi, as of early Sunday, the net withdrawal amount from Aave had reached $6.2 billion. Kelp DAO has suspended the rsETH contracts on the Ethereum mainnet and several L2 networks. Affected by this, the price of the Aave token fell 16% to $90.13, and the price of Ethereum dropped 2% to $2,300. Currently, Justin Sun has posted on platform X attempting to negotiate with the hacker.
Axelar Network stated that the hacker attack and theft of funds undermine users’ overall trust in blockchain systems and slow down the adoption of the global ledger it envisions. Axelar expressed its support for the LayerZero team in navigating this difficult situation and rebuilding trust. Regarding this approximately $290 million attack, Axelar emphasized that—pending final forensic findings—the incident once again highlights the need for multi-layered security in cross-chain bridge construction. This includes ensuring operational security for bridge operators, validators, and validating nodes; providing proper incentives and training; and removing validators whose technical capabilities are not adequately demonstrated. Additionally, operators must be sufficiently numerous, structurally heterogeneous, diverse, and geographically distributed to prevent ultimate control by a single entity.
LayerZero tweeted that it is aware of the rsETH vulnerability incident and has been actively collaborating with the KelpDAO team on response and remediation efforts since the incident occurred, while continuing to monitor the situation. LayerZero stated that, aside from the rsETH-related incident, all other applications remain secure. Regarding the root cause of the incident, LayerZero is jointly investigating with SEAL_Org and other parties, and pledged to jointly publish a comprehensive post-mortem report with KelpDAO once all information has been gathered.
Odaily News The Ethereum restaking protocol Kelp has officially confirmed suspicious cross-chain activity involving rsETH. It has currently paused the rsETH contracts on the mainnet and multiple L2s and launched an investigation into the attack. It is also collaborating with LayerZero, Unichain, as well as audit firms and security experts to conduct a root cause analysis (RCA). A post-mortem report will be released subsequently.
Odaily News On-chain data indicates that Kelp DAO's rsETH bridge protocol based on LayerZero is suspected of being exploited by hackers, resulting in a loss of 116,500 rsETH, valued at approximately $292 million.
Odaily News: The cross-chain version of XRP, wXRP, has launched on Solana, enabling holders to participate in the DeFi ecosystem without selling their assets.wXRP is custodied by Hex Trust and achieves cross-chain functionality via LayerZero. It is pegged 1:1 to native XRP and can be redeemed at any time.The asset has been integrated into multiple Solana applications, including Titan, Jupiter, Meteora, and the Phantom wallet, supporting functions such as trading, liquidity provision, and yield generation.This move signifies that XRP, which was originally more focused on payment scenarios, is now further integrating into the DeFi system, expanding its application space in cross-chain and on-chain finance.
According to a post on Grayscale’s official website, the firm has updated its list of cryptocurrencies under consideration for future investment products. Per the latest list, the “Currencies” category includes Bitcoin and XRP; the “Smart Contract Platforms” category now adds Stacks, Sui, Toncoin, and Tron; the “Financials” category includes assets under consideration such as Ethena, Hyperliquid, and Jupiter; the “Consumer & Culture” category features Dogecoin and Decentraland; the “AI” category includes Worldcoin, Virtuals Protocol, Story, and Grass; and the “Utilities & Services” category comprises Chainlink, LayerZero, and Helium. Grayscale stated that this list is reviewed quarterly to provide investors with diversified digital asset investment options.