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

A devastating hack has struck Kelp DAO, a liquid restaking protocol, resulting in the theft of 116,500 restaked ether tokens, valued at approximately $292 million. The attack, which occurred on Saturday at 17:35 UTC, exploited a vulnerability in LayerZero's cross-chain messaging layer, allowing the perpetrator to trick the system into releasing the tokens to an attacker-controlled address. The breach has significant implications, as the stolen tokens were part of a reserve backing wrapped versions of the token on over 20 other blockchains. This has created a ripple effect, with holders on non-Ethereum deployments now facing uncertainty about the value of their tokens. In response, several DeFi platforms, including Aave, SparkLend, and Fluid, have frozen their rsETH markets, while Lido Finance has paused further deposits into its earnETH product. The incident is the latest in a series of high-profile exploits to hit the DeFi space, with the total value of stolen funds surpassing $570 million in recent weeks.