X Product Manager: If a user posts encrypted content for the first time, automatic locking and verification will be triggered to prevent related phishing attacks.

KelpDAO Loses $290M in Lazarus Group LayerZero Attack

KelpDAO faced a $290 million loss due to a sophisticated security breach linked to the Lazarus Group. The attack exploited configuration weaknesses in their verification system and highlighted the risks of relying on a single-point verification setup. Industry experts emphasize the need for improved security configurations and multi-layer verification to prevent future incidents.

LayerZero responds to Kelp DAO’s 292 million incident: it indicates that Kelp set up a custom 1-of-1 DVN configuration, and the attacker was North Korea’s Lazarus.

LayerZero issued a statement regarding the $292 million hack suffered by Kelp DAO, accusing Kelp’s self-selected 1-of-1 DVN configuration of making the incident possible. The attacker was the North Korean Lazarus Group. LayerZero emphasized that this incident stems from configuration choices and that it will no longer support this kind of vulnerable setup. In addition, responsibility is still disputed, and no compensation plan has been provided.

DeFi hackers stole $600 million in April; Kelp DAO and Drift accounted for 95% of the monthly losses

In April 2026, within just 20 days, cryptocurrency protocols suffered losses of more than $606 million due to hacker attacks, becoming the worst single-month loss record since the February 2025 exchange incident in which $1.4 billion in data was leaked. The two attacks by KelpDAO and Drift Protocol accounted for 95% of April’s losses, and 75% of the total $771.8 million losses as of now in 2026.

Vercel Breach Linked to AI Tool Context.ai Compromise Raises Risk for Crypto Frontends

Vercel confirmed a security breach caused by a compromised AI tool, leading to the theft of employee and customer data. The incident poses risks to the Web3 ecosystem, and the attacker is attempting to sell the stolen data for $2 million. Vercel is addressing the situation with law enforcement and incident response experts.

Ripple CTO: Kelp DAO Exploit Reflects Bridge Security Trade-Offs

David Schwartz, CTO Emeritus at Ripple, analyzed bridge security vulnerabilities following the $292 million Kelp DAO exploit. He noted that providers prioritized convenience over robust security, undermining essential protective features. The Kelp DAO breach stemmed from a private key leak, exacerbated by a simplified security configuration in their LayerZero implementation.

rsETH LayerZero bridge hacked, Aave and other protocols urgently freeze funds

Kelp DAO’s liquidity re-staking token rsETH was attacked on April 19 by a hacker exploiting a cross-chain message verification vulnerability, resulting in 116,500 rsETH being released to an address controlled by the attacker. Multiple DeFi protocols urgently froze related functions to address potential losses. LayerZero stated that it is actively fixing the vulnerability and will release a post-incident analysis report.