KelpDAO wallet drained of 116,500 rsETH in cross-chain incident linked to Tornado Cash funding. Saturday, Apr 18, 2026 10:58 pm ET 1min read A Tornado Cash-funded wallet drained 116,500 rsETH from KelpDAO, a cross-chain incident that pushed the protocol into emergency pauses and forced DeFi counterparties to contain exposure. The attacker received 1 ETH from Tornado Cash roughly 18 hours before the drain, and the incident may have spoofed LayerZero verification. The drained balance equaled about 18% of rsETH's circulating supply, and Aave froze rsETH markets on Aave V3 and Aave V4. A Tornado Cash-funded wallet drained 116,500 rsETH from KelpDAO, a cross-chain liquid restaking protocol, in a $292 million exploit that triggered emergency pauses and raised concerns across the DeFi ecosystem. The attacker received 1 ETH from Tornado Cash's 1 ETH pool approximately 18 hours before the incident, likely to fund gas costs for the exploit. The attack exploited KelpDAO's LayerZero-powered bridge, tricking the protocol into releasing rsETH to an attacker-controlled address. The drained amount represented roughly 18% of rsETH's circulating supply and was deployed across more than 20 blockchains, including Base, Arbitrum, and Scroll. KelpDAO's emergency pauser multisig froze core contracts 46 minutes after the initial drain, preventing two additional attempts to siphon $100 million in rsETH. The incident has raised questions about the backing of rsETH on layer 2 networks and triggered market freezes by major DeFi protocols. Aave, one of the largest lending platforms, froze rsETH markets on Aave V3 and V4, citing potential bad debt exposure. The attacker deposited the stolen rsETH into Aave V3 as collateral to borrow Ether and Wrapped Ether, further obscuring the trail through Tornado Cash. The exploit is now the largest DeFi hack of 2026, surpassing the recent $285 million Drift Protocol incident. KelpDAO has partnered with LayerZero, Unichain, and security experts to investigate the breach but has not yet disclosed how the attack bypassed the bridge's validation logic. The incident underscores the growing risks in DeFi, particularly for protocols relying on cross-chain infrastructure and liquid restaking mechanisms. Ask Aime: What's the impact of the KelpDAO hack on the DeFi sector? Aime insights. What are the strongest altcoins showing correlation with Bitcoin's price movements? What are the top 5 digital currencies with the strongest growth potential now? What's the current state of blockchain technology developments? How should investors adjust their portfolios in response to the recent stock market gains?

KernelDAO (kernel) on Upbit and Season 3 airdrop: what changes today? KernelDAO advanced distribution and market access today with a confirmed Upbit spot listing and the launch of its Season 3 airdrop. Upbit opened a KRW market for KERNEL after publishing a same-day listing notice. The exchange said deposits and withdrawals are supported in line with standard procedures. The move adds a major South Korean venue to KERNEL's exchange footprint. Separately, KernelDAO released a blog post announcing that the Season 3 airdrop is live. The post details eligibility, Sybil-resistance measures, and claim steps for participants. Today's update follows earlier Season 3 materials that outlined allocations and program scope. Coverage today also highlighted a KernelDAO partnership touchpoint with Chainlink alongside the "Kred" litepaper reveal, positioning a credit-layer component within the project's roadmap. These items appeared in trade-press summaries of KernelDAO's latest communications. KERNEL heatmap signals short-squeeze liquidity toward $0.25. Trader Honey flagged a potential short squeeze to $0.25 on $KERNEL, sharing order-book heatmaps that highlight dense resting liquidity above current price. The Coinglass snapshots show bright bands around ~$0.23 - $0.25, indicating stacked asks and likely liquidation clusters that can accelerate moves once price pushes into that zone. Price has bounced inside the $0.18 - $0.21 area in recent sessions. If buyers reclaim the $0.21 - $0.22 shelf, liquidity thins until the next heavy band, which raises the chance of a fast run toward ~$0.25 as shorts get forced to cover. Conversely, a failure to hold the mid-range could send price back to prior support, where liquidity is deeper and moves slow. This read comes as traders watch heatmap density and liquidation pools rather than headlines, using the concentration of orders to gauge where squeezes can trigger. It remains a market-structure observation, not a guarantee of direction. KernelDAO (KERNEL/USDT) daily MACD shows early momentum shift. KernelDAO's daily MACD just flipped to a small green histogram while the MACD line crossed above the signal line from below zero. This crossover signals improving short-term momentum after weeks of mixed readings. Earlier in August, MACD peaked strongly, then slipped into a broad negative phase through September and most of October. During that stretch, red histogram bars persisted and both lines trended below zero, reflecting weakening momentum. Now, the histogram has turned positive again and both lines slope upward, indicating buyers are regaining control. However, the crossover occurred beneath the zero line. In MACD terms, that counts as an early shift rather than a confirmed trend change. A sustained build of green histogram bars and an eventual move of the MACD above zero would strengthen the case for a broader recovery. Conversely, if the lines roll over and the histogram fades back to red, it would imply momentum stalled before reaching the neutral zone. In short, the indicator shows a fresh bullish tilt, but the zero line remains the next objective to validate a stronger trend.