April 19 data from DefiLlama showed Aave total value locked fell to 21.966 billion, down 16.78% from 26.396 billion a day earlier. Mars Finance reported the KelpDAO hacker borrowed a large amount of ETH on Aave, after which major whales withdrew funds to reduce risk.

BlockBeats reported on April 19 that DefiLlama data shows the KelpDAO attacker borrowed a substantial amount of ETH from Aave, triggering large holders to withdraw capital from the protocol as a risk-control measure. Aave's total value locked fell to $21.966 billion, down 16.78% from $26.396 billion a day earlier.

Onchain analyst Onchain Lens (@OnchainLens) reported that Kelp DAO suffered about $294 million in losses after a crosschain bridge exploit. The sell-off pushed $ZRO down to $1.4 from $2. A whale with a leveraged long in $ZRO on HyperLiquid was partially liquidated, realizing a $2.88 million loss. The position remains open, with unrealized losses above $750,000 and cumulative losses estimated at roughly $28.98 million.

ChainCatcher reports that on-chain analyst Onchain Lens (@OnchainLens) said Kelp DAO sustained roughly $294 million in losses following a crosschain bridge exploit. The incident pushed $ZRO down to about $1.4 from $2. On HyperLiquid, a whale's leveraged long in $ZRO was partially liquidated, realizing a $2.88 million loss. The whale continues to hold the position, with unrealized losses of more than $750,000 and cumulative losses estimated at around $28.98 million.

Huo Xing Finance reported that on April 19, crypto KOL benmo.eth said the rsETH theft tied to KelpDAO could have broad ripple effects, with KelpDAO and LayerZero disputing where responsibility lies. He outlined several potential outcomes: • Wrapped assets such as LRTs should not be assumed to carry the same security profile as native assets. Lending protocols are advised not to treat them as equivalent collateral within mixed collateral pools. • LayerZero could lose part of its cross-chain market share. Assets including usde and usd0 have already stopped using its cross-chain solution. Even if service resumes, he believes reputational damage will be difficult to repair. • Aave's security reputation has taken a hit, and large holders are again scrutinizing risk in unified lending markets. He argued that each added collateral type introduces incremental risk to existing collateral, creating an imbalance that disadvantages native assets. Aave V4 and modular lending may gain traction as a result, potentially accelerating a broader shift. Market attention may move toward "lending business fundamentals" over specific platforms or curators, with higher operational costs as a trade-off. • The cost of attracting TVL on L2 networks could rise further, potentially pushing some liquidity back to L1. • DeFi may pivot from expansion-first approaches to a more conservative security posture, while also contending with emerging AI-driven security threats such as Anthropic Mythos.

Huo Xing Finance reported that Onchain Lens data on April 19 pointed to losses at KelpDAO tied to a LayerZero bridge vulnerability, estimated at about $294 million. The incident triggered a sharp move in LayerZero's ZRO token, which fell from $2 to $1.4. As ZRO dropped, a large HyperLiquid trader's leveraged long position in ZRO was partially liquidated, locking in a loss of $2.88 million. The whale remains in the trade, with unrealized losses now above $750,000 and cumulative losses estimated at roughly $28.98 million.

ALERT: KelpDAO has suffered an exploit exceeding $280 million across Ethereum and Arbitrum. The attacker-controlled wallets were funded via Tornado Cash.

Ryan Sean Adams, co-founder of Bankless, said the crypto sector is seeing cyberattacks at an all-time high, arguing that AI is giving hackers stronger tools and urging the industry to step up defensive measures. Kelp DAO, which previously lost about $292 million in an attack, has halted its rsETH contracts across mainnet and several L2 networks. The team said it is working with LayerZero, Unichain and security specialists to determine the root cause.

Ether.fi has temporarily paused LayerZero cross-chain transfers for weETH and eETH while the root cause of the Kelp rsETH incident is still being investigated. The protocol also paused Teller contracts for Liquid (ETH, BTC, USD), sETHFI and eBTC, stopping LayerZero OFT cross-chain transfers and suspending deposits and withdrawals for the affected products. Ether.fi said its Liquid Vaults have no direct exposure to Kelp rsETH and that it is working closely with security partners. Further updates are expected soon.