In the three and a half days following the Kelp hack, users of the lending protocol Aave withdrew assets totaling $15.1 billion, as noted by analysts at EmberCN.

Funds on Aave continue to flow out, with $15.1 billion withdrawn in just three and a half days: total deposits dropped from $48.5 billion before the incident to $30.7 billion now, representing nearly a third of the funds.

Other major lending platforms' situations:
◎ Morpho: Total deposits fell from $11.7 billion before the rsETH incident to $10.2 billion, a loss of $1.5 billion.
◎ Spark: In contrast, SparkLend's TVL increased from $1.9 billion to $3.2 billion, gaining $1.3 billion.

— 余烬 (@EmberCN) April 22, 2026

From April 18 to 22, total deposits fell from $48.5 billion to $30.7 billion, with the protocol losing more than a third of its volume.

The situation varies across other major lending platforms:

  • Morpho lost $1.5 billion, with deposits shrinking from $11.7 billion to $10.2 billion due to the rsETH incident;
  • Spark, on the other hand, attracted $1.3 billion, with TVL rising from $1.9 billion to $3.2 billion.

“Spark absorbed the funds withdrawn from Aave by large investors and institutions, such as Brother Sun […],” EmberCN noted.

Analysts at Lookonchain identified one of the “escaping” whales. A user created a new wallet and deposited 9,500 wstETH into Spark. They then borrowed 9,500 ETH (approximately $22.68 million), exchanged it for USDE stablecoins via Binance, and withdrew assets from Aave to repay the loans.

Whale 0xD91D created a new wallet (0xEb2a) and deposited 9,500 $wstETH into #Spark.

They then borrowed 9,500 $ETH ($22.68M), sent it to #Binance to sell, and withdrew $USDE from Binance to repay loans on #Aave.https://t.co/86bLqsumfchttps://t.co/i2nXYVIrOD pic.twitter.com/CWjqBPxHTP

— Lookonchain (@lookonchain) April 22, 2026

In the latest update regarding the incident, Aave representatives stated that the wETH reserves on the Ethereum Core V3 market have been unfrozen, allowing users to replenish their balances with wrapped Ether.

“The ratio of the amount to the transaction value of wETH remains at zero. Reserves of wETH on Ethereum Prime, Arbitrum, Base, Mantle, and Linea remain locked,” the statement said.

The native token AAVE has reacted negatively to the outflow of funds, although it has managed to recover slightly over the past day. The coin is currently trading around $94, having lost 8% over the week.

According to Alphractal CEO Zhao Wedson, large players and leading traders are aggressively opening short positions on AAVE. Meanwhile, retail investors are acting contrary to the bearish sentiment, he added.

Whales and top traders have been aggressively positioning in shorts on AAVE.

Interestingly, retail investors are positioning against this sentiment.

These large entities are doing everything they can to eliminate all retail hope in altcoins.

Something big is about to happen… pic.twitter.com/JrrCskohz6

— Joao Wedson (@joao_wedson) April 22, 2026

It’s worth noting that on April 21, Arbitrum developers froze 30,766 ETH as part of the investigation into the Kelp hack.