TLDR Tech / Crypto
Kelp DAO Exploited for $293M
Kelp DAO suffered the largest DeFi hack of 2026 after an attacker exploited the LayerZero bridge to drain 116,500 rsETH worth $293M, then posted the stolen assets as collateral on Aave to borrow ETH, leaving Aave exposed to bad debt and sending AAVE token lower. The Kelp incident anchors a broader $600M+ wave of losses across 10+ protocols in two weeks, with Drift Protocol separately losing $285M to North Korean state-sponsored hackers who used AI-powered social engineering to build insider trust over months before executing the full drain in 12 minutes. Across the incident cluster, the dominant attack surfaces are cross-chain bridges, misconfigured oracles, and credential theft via social engineering, with the Drift and Zerion cases marking a notable escalation in AI-assisted infiltration.
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