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

OKX Star analyzes Binance's competitive advantages: when regulation levels the playing field, competition has just begun

OKX founder Star published a lengthy article, systematically analyzing Binance's competitive advantages over the years: regulatory arbitrage, speculative narrative cycles, social media control, and superficial compliance, stating that the essence of these advantages is not product capability, but ra...

Full version of the debut Q&A! Federal Reserve Chairman Waller: Sticking to the 2% inflation target, establishing five special working groups, individual did not submit the dot plot

Federal Reserve Chairman Waller's debut featured a significant slimming statement, the cancellation of forward guidance, refusal to submit the dot plot, and the establishment of five working groups, vowing to uphold the 2% inflation target, which triggered a sharp decline in U.S. stocks and a surge ...

From Disruptor to Shadow Market: The Crypto Market is Becoming a Colony of Traditional Finance

"Coin-stock linkage" has evolved from the early stage of macro correlation and one-way penetration of emotional funds to the current 3.0 stage, where on-chain perpetual contracts provide extended trading hours and emotional signal value for traditional assets 24/7, and participate in Pre-IPO pricing...

Dalio's important long article: How to position in the current market environment?

Do not confuse the excitement for new technologies with whether those tech stocks are attractive.

DeepSeek Financing Story

DeepSeek's financing insider information exposed: "Four-hour meeting" fully demonstrates Liang Wenfeng's determination for AGI, over a hundred institutions involved, Sequoia and Hillhouse rarely absent, not poaching talent is the hardest red line.

Morning Report | Illinois signs the strictest digital asset tax law in the U.S.; RWA tokenization market size surpasses $43 billion, institutions accelerate the migration of on-chain assets

Overview of Important Market Events on June 17

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