Bitcoin Surges Past $76,000 as DeFi Sector Faces $14 Billion Exodus Following KelpDAO Breach

The price of Bitcoin has held steady above $76,000 on Monday, rebounding from its overnight lows as the broader cryptocurrency market remains stable in the face of rising geopolitical tensions with Iran. Over the past 24 hours, the largest cryptocurrency has seen a 2.4% increase, recovering from a dip below $74,000 earlier in the session. Other major altcoins, including Ether, XRP, and Solana, have followed Bitcoin's lead, with the broad-market CoinDesk 20 rising by 1.7%. This resilience is notable given the uncertain macroeconomic backdrop, with US President Donald Trump announcing that American forces had seized an Iranian-flagged cargo ship, warning of further escalation. The price of oil has jumped 6% to near $90, while the S&P 500 and Nasdaq have slipped modestly, down around 0.3%-0.4%. Crypto equities have been mixed, with Coinbase and bitcoin treasury firm Strategy gaining roughly 2%, while Circle and ether treasury Bitmine have edged lower by 1%-2%. According to Jasper De Maere, a trader at Wintermute, the fact that prices have not fully retraced despite new tensions suggests some genuine demand, pointing to recent spot ETF inflows as a supporting factor. However, the path forward remains tied to geopolitics, with a renewed ceasefire potentially pushing Bitcoin back toward $80,000, while further escalation may keep markets under pressure. For now, capital continues to concentrate in large-cap assets like Bitcoin, with riskier altcoins lagging. Meanwhile, the DeFi sector is reeling from the $292 million KelpDAO hack, which has had a cascading effect across the market. The hack has led to a vulnerability that allowed the attacker to drain funds that were then used as collateral across lending protocols, resulting in a $14 billion exodus from DeFi protocols over the past two days. The total value locked (TVL) across DeFi protocols has fallen to about $85 billion, its lowest level in a year and roughly 50% below October peaks. According to David Shuttleworth from Anchorage Digital's protocol team, there is a tremendous risk-reward imbalance in DeFi, and users will no longer accept the slightly higher (and sometimes lower) than risk-free rate they get by depositing in lending pools, especially given the latest wave of exploits across protocols.