The biggest DeFi heist of 2026, hackers easily took advantage of Aave

By: rootdata|2026/04/19 09:12:22
0
Share
copy

Author: Xiao Bing, Shenchao TechFlow

On the evening of April 18 at 17:35 (UTC), a wallet that had laundered money through Tornado Cash sent a cross-chain message to the LayerZero EndpointV2 contract.

The message's meaning was simple: a user on a certain chain wanted to transfer rsETH back to the Ethereum mainnet. LayerZero faithfully conveyed the instruction according to the protocol design. The bridging contract deployed by Kelp DAO on the mainnet also executed the release faithfully as designed.

116,500 rsETH, worth approximately $292 million at the time, was transferred in a single transaction to an address controlled by the attacker.

The problem is that no one on the other chain had ever deposited this rsETH. This "cross-chain request" was fabricated out of thin air; LayerZero believed it, and Kelp's bridge believed it.

Forty-six minutes later, Kelp's emergency multi-signature finally hit the pause button. By this time, the attacker had already completed the latter half of the action, using the stolen, essentially uncollateralized rsETH to collateralize in Aave V3, borrowing approximately $236 million worth of wETH.

This is the largest DeFi theft of 2026 so far, surpassing the Drift protocol, which was attacked by North Korean hackers on April 1 by several million dollars, but what truly sends chills down the spine of the industry is not just the amount.

How the Attack Happened: Three Bets from 17:35 to 18:28

Let's restore the timeline.

17:35 UTC, the first success. The attacker called the lzReceive function on the LayerZero EndpointV2 contract, and a wallet funded by Tornado Cash sent a fabricated cross-chain data packet to Kelp's bridging contract. The contract verification passed, and 116,500 rsETH was released to the attacker's address. A single transaction. Clean.

18:21 UTC, Kelp's emergency pause multi-signature froze the core rsETH contracts on the mainnet and multiple L2s. 46 minutes after the attack occurred.

18:26 and 18:28 UTC, the attacker initiated two more attempts, each time attempting to withdraw 40,000 rsETH (approximately $10 million) with a LayerZero data packet. Both were reverted; the contract had already been frozen, but the attacker was clearly still trying to siphon off the remaining liquidity.

From the first success to Kelp's public statement, nearly three hours elapsed.

Kelp's first X post was not sent until 20:10 UTC, and the wording was very restrained: suspicious cross-chain activity involving rsETH was detected, the rsETH contracts on the mainnet and multiple L2s had been paused, and they were collaborating with LayerZero, Unichain, auditors, and external security experts for root cause analysis.

However, earlier than the official statement, ZachXBT, an on-chain detective, raised the alarm in his Telegram channel before 3 PM Eastern Time, listing six wallet addresses related to the theft and pointing out that the attack wallet had prepared funds through Tornado Cash before starting its actions. He did not name Kelp DAO, but on-chain analysts connected the addresses in just a few hours.

This was a **premeditated operation executed

You may also like

Galaxy Deep Dive: Is the Bitcoin Four-Year Cycle Still Valid?

Galaxy Research believes that the four-year cycle of Bitcoin is still valid, but the amplitude of the cycle is shrinking. This round's peak is milder, which means that even if the pullback continues, the bottom may be higher than the extreme levels of past cycles.

Value Distribution of Stablecoins

The issuance layer obtains user funds and takes the largest profit margin; the two middle layers rely on traffic, distribution commissions, and underlying infrastructure; the application layer enjoys convenience but has no bargaining power.

On the day of SpaceX's IPO, the first real test of the three perpetual mechanisms

The price has been discovered, and the market surrounding the price is still under construction.

Claude enforces "facial recognition for household registration," starting in July, no ID card means no access?

Anthropic has issued an urgent notice that Claude users may face real-name verification in July. From now on, every time you use Claude, you may need to be prepared with your ID.

After 18 years, blockchain has finally started to head towards the main channel

When AI becomes the new center of gravity in the capital market, the response of crypto VCs is not to stick to "Crypto-only," but to repackage crypto as the financial track, ownership layer, and autonomous system infrastructure of the AI era.

SpaceX IPO, Nvidia, and Bitcoin: Why Traders Are Watching More Than Just Crypto in 2026

Bitcoin recently plunged below $60,000 before rebounding, while SpaceX's historic IPO and Nvidia's continued AI momentum captured traders' attention worldwide. Explore why more crypto traders are looking beyond crypto in 2026 and what this shift means for emerging market opportunities.

Popular coins

Latest Crypto News

Read more
iconiconiconiconiconiconicon
Customer Support:@weikecs
Business Cooperation:@weikecs
Quant Trading & MM:bd@weex.com
VIP Program:support@weex.com