$301 Million Raised to Back rsETH After Kelp DAO Hack Impacts Aave

A coalition known as DeFi United has raised about $301 million in commitments as of April 28, 2026, to restore backing for rsETH following the Kelp DAO exploit on April 18, 2026. The exploit rippled into rsETH markets and generated risks across lending positions on Aave, one of DeFi’s largest lending protocols.

CoinDesk reported that the effort aims to support users and restore normal market conditions.

A governance proposal outlines a plan for the Aave DAO to allocate up to 250,000 ETH as part of the recovery. Stani Kulechov, founder of Aave, indicated he would donate 5,000 ETH personally. Other contributors include Emilio Frangella with 500 ETH, Ernesto Boado of BGD Labs with 100 ETH, BGD Labs with 250 ETH, and Marcelo Ruiz de Orlano of KPK with 100 ETH.

Following the April 18 bridge hack, Kulechov reached out to Consensys and other ecosystem participants. Consensys and its founder Joseph Lubin agreed to commit up to 30,000 ETH in financial support for the recovery. A spokesperson confirmed coordination efforts.

Losses occurred following the Kelp DAO exploit, which took place this month in April 2026. Separately, Anthropic released Mythos, a new AI model designed to identify and chain together weaknesses across systems. Mythos simulates adversaries by exploring how protocols interact and testing how small weaknesses can be combined into exploits.

Coinbase and Binance reportedly approached Anthropic to test Mythos earlier this month. Early findings from models like Mythos identified weaknesses in systems protecting keys and handling communication between crypto platforms. Vercel disclosed a security breach this month that may have exposed customer API keys.

The incident involved AI used by an employee. This prompted crypto projects to rotate credentials and review their code. The CEO of a crypto firm stated that all transactions for agents are online and will speak at Consensus Miami next month.

ECash is a proposed Bitcoin fork scheduled for August 2026 at block height 964,000. The eCash fork would copy Bitcoin’s history up to block height 964,000, giving BTC holders an equivalent balance on the forked network. Roughly 1.1 million BTC are attributed to Satoshi Nakamoto in dormant addresses linked to the Patoshi pattern.

The eCash plan would allocate 600,000 eCash to Satoshi-linked addresses and redirect the remaining 500,000 eCash to investors who fund the project before launch. The proposer added, BTC balances are untouched by eCash. To move BTC, you always need BTC software and the BTC private key.

Bitcoin Cash forked in 2017, and Bitcoin SV forked after Bitcoin Cash. Securitize and Computershare agreed to bring tokenized equities onchain, allowing listed firms to add Issuer-Sponsored Tokens (ISTs) alongside existing shares. Computershare will act as transfer agent for tokenized shares, managing records and processing events like dividend payments and stock splits.

MoonPay acquired Sodot in an all-stock deal worth about $100 million. MoonPay Institutional is a new unit for large financial institutions, offering tools for trading, tokenized securities, payments, wallet management, and stablecoin issuance. Sodot's technology will serve as the key management layer for MoonPay Institutional, with its self-hosted multi-party computation (MPC) infrastructure built for institutions.

Caroline D. Pham joined MoonPay in December 2025 as chief legal officer and chief administrative officer after serving as acting chair of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission in 2025. Pham will lead MoonPay Institutional.

The Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) warned of counterfeit tokens using tickers “HKDAP” and “HSBC” circulating in the market, with no connection to any authorized issuer. Two licensed stablecoin applicants confirmed they have not issued any regulated stablecoins.

The HKMA granted its first stablecoin licenses under the Stablecoins Ordinance in April 2026, selecting two groups from 36 applicants: HSBC and a Standard Chartered-led entity.

The Stablecoins Ordinance took effect in August 2025. Insiders expect a stablecoin launch during Hong Kong's fintech week in November 2026. Israel's Capital Market Authority granted approval for Bits of Gold to issue BILS, a shekel-pegged stablecoin, following a two-year evaluation and pilot process.

BILS was developed with Solana network and Fireblocks, with auditing by EY. The stablecoin sector size surged to more than $300 billion in the last 18 months as of April 2026. Upcoming events include Consensus scheduled for May 5-7, 2026, in Miami; Proof of Talk for June 2-3, 2026, in Paris; ETHConf for June 8-10, 2026, in New York; Korea Blockchain Week for September 29-October 1, 2026, in Seoul; Token2049 for October 7-8, 2026, in Singapore; Devcon for November 3-6, 2026, in Mumbai; and Solana Breakpoint for November 15-17, 2026, in London.

The Protocol is CoinDesk's weekly wrap of cryptocurrency tech development stories. Margaux Nijkerk is a reporter at CoinDesk. DeFi United proposed a plan to restore backing of rsETH after the Kelp DAO hack created unbacked rsETH.