Kelp DAO restores rsETH asset after $293 million hack
Kelp DAO, a liquid staking protocol on the Ethereum network, announced the full restoration of its rsETH token following a $293 million hack on April 18, allegedly carried out by the North Korean Lazarus Group. At the end of a five-week recovery process, the final portion of 20,373.7 rsETH tokens was transferred to the LayerZero smart contract. This marks the completion of the operational phase of the rsETH recovery plan, according to a report by.
As part of the DeFi United initiative, several crypto protocols allocated funds to replenish rsETH reserves. This April hack negatively impacted the entire crypto lending market, disrupting billions of dollars in liquidity and raising concerns about the interconnectedness of decentralized finance (DeFi) protocols.
Aave was one of the platforms most affected by the attack. The hacker used a large portion of the 116,500 stolen rsETH as collateral to borrow wrapped Ether. As a result, $190 million in "bad debt" was created on the platform, leading to a mass withdrawal of funds by users. This event caused the Total Value Locked (TVL) on Aave to drop from $26.4 billion to $14 billion.
According to Kelp DAO representatives, minting, redeeming, and reward operations for rsETH tokens are now functioning normally. Since mid-May, rsETH bridges between the Ethereum mainnet and Layer 2 networks have been reopened.
According to DefiLlama, April was one of the toughest months for the crypto world, with a total of $630 million stolen. Although the outflow of funds from Aave has slowed, its TVL remains around $14–15 billion and has not yet returned to pre-crisis levels.
