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

Bitcoin has managed to hold above $76,000, rebounding from its overnight lows, as the broader cryptocurrency market maintains its stability despite the escalating tensions between the US and 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. This upward trend is also reflected in other major altcoins such as Ether, XRP, and Solana, with the broad-market CoinDesk 20 rising by 1.7%. The current market resilience is set against a backdrop of uncertainty, with US President Donald Trump announcing that American forces have seized an Iranian-flagged cargo ship, warning of potential further escalation. As a result, oil prices have jumped 6% to near $90, while the S&P 500 and Nasdaq have slipped modestly, down around 0.3%-0.4%. The crypto equities market has been mixed, with Coinbase and Strategy gaining roughly 2%, while Circle and 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 the 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. Meanwhile, the DeFi sector is reeling from the $292 million KelpDAO hack, which has had a significant impact on the market. The hack has resulted in a $14 billion exodus from DeFi protocols over the past two days, according to DefiLlama data, with the total value locked (TVL) across DeFi protocols dropping to about $85 billion, its lowest level in a year. The largest lending protocol, Aave, has seen around $10 billion in deposits withdrawn, highlighting the tremendous risk-reward imbalance in DeFi, according to David Shuttleworth from Anchorage Digital's protocol team.