Massive Crypto Heist: $292 Million Stolen from Kelp DAO, Leaving 20 Blockchains Vulnerable

A catastrophic breach has occurred in the DeFi space, as an attacker successfully drained a staggering $292 million worth of rsETH from Kelp DAO's LayerZero-powered bridge, which held nearly 18% of the token's circulating supply. The attack, which took place on Saturday at 17:35 UTC, has sent shockwaves throughout the DeFi ecosystem, with the stolen funds representing a significant portion of the token's total supply. The breach has left holders of wrapped versions of the token on over 20 blockchains, including Base, Arbitrum, and Scroll, facing uncertainty about the value of their assets. The fallout from the attack has already led to a series of emergency measures, including the freezing of rsETH markets on Aave, SparkLend, and Fluid, as well as the temporary pause of LayerZero OFT bridges by Ethena. The incident has also sparked concerns about potential bad debt, with AAVE experiencing a 10% decline in value. As the situation continues to unfold, the DeFi community is holding its breath, waiting to see how the incident will be resolved and what measures will be taken to prevent similar attacks in the future. With the hack being the largest DeFi exploit of 2026, it has overtaken the recent Solana-based Drift protocol hack, which lost around $285 million, and has raised questions about the security and stability of the DeFi space.