Kelp DAO Completes rsETH Recovery After $292M Exploit

Kelp DAO has completed the main recovery work tied to the rsETH exploit, sending the final 20,373.72 rsETH batch to the rsETH OFT adapter.

The recovery follows an April 18 exploit that released about 116,500 rsETH from Kelp’s Ethereum side bridge adapter. Galaxy Research said the attacker delivered a forged LayerZero packet to the adapter, which then released the tokens to the attacker’s address on Ethereum mainnet.

The attacker used part of the released rsETH as collateral on Aave, borrowing large amounts of WETH and turning the bridge failure into a broader DeFi lending problem.

The recovery plan centered on restoring the rsETH backing by gradually refilling the adapter. The first tranche was transferred last week, allowing rsETH bridging between Ethereum mainnet and layer 2 networks to reopen. With the final tranche now sent, the effort moves from active refilling to monitoring.