{"id":2504,"date":"2026-04-19T07:59:49","date_gmt":"2026-04-19T07:59:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.coinsignals.net\/?p=2504"},"modified":"2026-04-19T07:59:49","modified_gmt":"2026-04-19T07:59:49","slug":"the-largest-hack-of-2026-as-kelpdao-loses-nearly-three-hundred-million-dollars","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.coinsignals.net\/index.php\/2026\/04\/19\/the-largest-hack-of-2026-as-kelpdao-loses-nearly-three-hundred-million-dollars\/","title":{"rendered":"The Largest Hack of 2026 as KelpDAO Loses Nearly Three Hundred Million Dollars"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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This incident has become the most significant security breach of 2026 when measured by total value lost.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Several on chain security firms and independent investigators reported late Saturday that the liquid restaking protocol KelpDAO suffered a major exploit, with attackers draining close to three hundred million dollars.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The team behind the project later confirmed the breach and stated that they are working with LayerZero, Unichain, their auditors, and leading security specialists to address the situation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Details of the Exploit<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cyvers was among the first to detect the attack and later shared a detailed breakdown of how it unfolded. According to their findings, the attacker exploited a vulnerability in the protocol\u2019s bridge contract and extracted approximately 293.7 million dollars from its liquid restaking token known as rsETH.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After gaining control of the funds, the attacker quickly converted them into ETH and distributed them across multiple networks. Blockchain data shows that the assets were divided into two main portions, with about 178 million dollars moved on Ethereum and 72 million dollars transferred to Arbitrum.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The stolen rsETH was then deposited into lending platforms such as Aave V3, Compound V3, and Euler. Using these funds, the attacker borrowed large amounts of wrapped ETH, creating more than 236 million dollars in debt.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cyvers explained that the exploit allowed the creation of unbacked rsETH, which was then used to borrow real assets like ETH. This mechanism enabled the attack to escalate rapidly and spread across multiple platforms.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The incident quickly evolved beyond a single protocol issue into a broader systemic problem. Assets that are widely integrated across lending platforms, vaults, and liquidity systems are particularly vulnerable in such situations, allowing the impact to spread rapidly. This resulted in bad debt, forced market freezes, and disruptions across several platforms.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In response, Aave V3 halted rsETH markets, SparkLend limited its exposure, while Fluid, Compound, Euler, and other platforms took steps to manage risk. Cyvers estimated that at least nine protocols were affected.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

KelpDAO Response and Ongoing Investigation<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

KelpDAO confirmed the breach on its official X account, stating that it had identified suspicious cross chain activity involving rsETH. The team has since paused the affected contracts across the main network and several layer two networks while investigations continue.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Although the project is collaborating with LayerZero, Unichain, auditors, and security experts, there have been no further updates in the past several hours regarding next steps or potential outcomes for users.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This breach now stands as the largest crypto hack recorded in 2026, surpassing the previous incident involving Drift Protocol, which resulted in losses of 280 million dollars.#crypto#cryptonews https:\/\/coinsignals.net<\/a> https:\/\/t.me\/coinsignalpublic<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This incident has become the most significant security breach of 2026 when measured by total value lost. Several on chain security firms and independent investigators reported...<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2504","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.coinsignals.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2504","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.coinsignals.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.coinsignals.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.coinsignals.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.coinsignals.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2504"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blog.coinsignals.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2504\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2506,"href":"https:\/\/blog.coinsignals.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2504\/revisions\/2506"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.coinsignals.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2504"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.coinsignals.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2504"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.coinsignals.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2504"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}