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

Paul Graham: How to Make a Billion Dollars

Silicon Valley guru Paul Graham reveals the underlying logic of billion-dollar wealth: no need to cheat, just create products that users love intensely, allowing exponential growth to create wealth miracles.

If the AI bubble has already burst, who will truly remain?

What remains after the AI bubble bursts? The plummeting cost of computing power is driving AI to accelerate the reshaping of various industries. What will be left after the major reshuffle is an irreversible revolution in real productivity.

Morning Report | Prediction market platforms like Kalshi and Polymarket jointly sue Kentucky over 14.25% trading tax; Bridgewater founder discusses decision-making in the AI era: principled thinking should run parallel to AI, human insight remains irre...

Overview of Important Market Events on June 15

What is the connection between Huang Zheng of Pinduoduo and blockchain?

From Pinduoduo's "reverse insurance" to blockchain's smart contracts, this article explains how Huang Zheng's underlying logic uses "certainty" rules to reshape the flow of wealth for ordinary people.

The other side of Musk's trillion-dollar fortune: 85% cannot be sold

SpaceX's IPO is a math problem, and the answer is not on the pricing day, but in the first quarter after the lock-up period ends.

The U.S. government prohibits foreigners from using Fable 5, Anthropic issues a rebuttal

The sudden removal of the two models has caused widespread shock in the tech industry and the AI community.

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