Aave DAO is moving to commit 25,000 Ether (ETH) from its treasury to a coalition rescue fund built to repair the rsETH shortfall left by KelpDAO's Apr. 18 bridge exploit.
Aave's Treasury Proposal
Aave service providers filed the governance proposal Friday, earmarking roughly $58 million for a coordinated relief effort branded DeFi United.
The contribution is structured as a fixed anchor.
Any later donations will not shrink Aave's share, with surplus funds instead used to repay borrowed capital, the proposal states.
The Apr. 18 attack drained 152,577 rsETH through a vulnerability in KelpDAO's LayerZero bridge adapter, opening an initial gap of about 163,183 ETH, Crypto Briefing reported.
Founder Stani Kulechov has pledged 5,000 ETH personally, calling the protocol his life's work, while engineering executive Emilio Frangella added 500 ETH.
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DeFi United Coalition
Lido DAO and Ether.fi have proposed contributions of up to 2,500 ETH and 5,000 ETH, while Mantle drafted a credit facility of up to 30,000 ETH for Aave, Decrypt reported. On-chain analyst EmberCN puts the residual bad debt at 75,081 ETH.
Total value locked across DeFi now sits just above $80 billion, down more than 27% from $110 billion at the start of 2026, per The Block.
JPMorgan analysts say the run of exploits is denting institutional appetite, pushing some users into stablecoins.
The Apr. 18 breach was the largest crypto exploit of the year. Arbitrum's security council froze 30,766 ETH tied to the attacker, but the rest of the loot was bridged and swapped into Bitcoin (BTC) through Thorchain, complicating any clawback.
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