Bitcoin Surges Past $76,000 Amid DeFi's $14 Billion Exodus Following KelpDAO Hack

The price of Bitcoin held above $76,000 on Monday, rebounding from its overnight lows as the broader cryptocurrency market demonstrated resilience in the face of rising Iran war risks. Over the past 24 hours, Bitcoin experienced a 2.4% increase, recovering from a dip below $74,000 earlier in the session. This upward trend was mirrored by other major cryptocurrencies, including Ether, XRP, and Solana, as the CoinDesk 20 index rose by 1.7%. The market's ability to hold its ground is notable, given the uncertain macroeconomic backdrop. US President Donald Trump's announcement that American forces had seized an Iranian-flagged cargo ship and the looming expiration of a fragile ceasefire have contributed to heightened tensions. As a result, oil prices surged 6% to near $90, while the S&P 500 and Nasdaq experienced modest declines of around 0.3%-0.4%. The performance of crypto equities was mixed, with Coinbase and Strategy gaining roughly 2%, while Circle and Bitmine 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 closely tied to geopolitical developments. A renewed ceasefire could potentially push 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 behind, a pattern typical of market environments driven by macro headlines. The DeFi sector is still reeling from the $292 million KelpDAO hack, the biggest crypto exploit of the year. The hack had a cascading effect across the market, as a vulnerability allowed the attacker to drain funds that were then used as collateral across lending protocols. As a result, users rushed to withdraw funds amid fears of bad debt and contagion, leading to a $14 billion decline in the total value locked (TVL) across DeFi protocols over the past two days, according to DefiLlama data. The DeFi TVL dropped to about $85 billion, its lowest level in a year and roughly 50% below October peaks. Aave, the largest lending protocol central to the exploit, saw around $10 billion in deposits withdrawn. David Shuttleworth from Anchorage Digital's protocol team noted that there's a tremendous risk-reward imbalance in DeFi, and users will no longer accept the slightly higher, and sometimes lower, risk-free rates they get by depositing in lending pools, especially given the latest wave of exploits across protocols.