Major Crypto Heist: $292 Million Stolen from Kelp DAO, Leaving 20 Blockchains Exposed

A devastating cyber attack has struck Kelp DAO, a prominent liquid restaking protocol, resulting in the loss of nearly 18% of the circulating supply of restaked ether tokens. The breach, which occurred on Saturday at 17:35 UTC, saw an attacker drain 116,500 rsETH from Kelp's LayerZero-powered bridge, worth around $292 million at current market prices. This significant loss has triggered a wave of panic across the DeFi landscape, with several major platforms, including Aave, SparkLend, and Fluid, hastily freezing their rsETH markets in response. The attack has also raised concerns about the potential for a broader market contagion, as holders of wrapped rsETH tokens on over 20 different blockchains face uncertainty about the underlying value of their assets. As the situation continues to unfold, Kelp DAO has acknowledged the incident and is working with LayerZero, Unichain, and external security experts to investigate the breach and potentially recover the stolen funds. The incident marks the largest DeFi exploit of 2026, surpassing the recent $285 million hack of Solana-based perpetuals protocol Drift.