The $292 million hack of the Kelp protocol dealt a significant blow to the decentralized finance (DeFi) sector, but it was not fatal. This is the conclusion reached by analysts at Standard Chartered, as reported by The Block.
The incident occurred on April 18. The hacker stole rsETH tokens and used them as collateral in the leading lending protocol Aave. This allowed the hacker to withdraw real assets, triggering panic and a mass exodus of funds from the system.
According to the bank, amid concerns, users withdrew $17 billion in deposits from Aave (38% of the total volume). The amount of active loans decreased by $5.5 billion.
Jeffrey Kendrick, head of digital asset research at Standard Chartered, described the incident as a test of "antifragility." He noted that a coalition led by Aave founder Stani Kulechov has allocated over $300 million for recovery efforts. This initiative received support from Arbitrum, ConsenSys, Mantle, and Lido.
The bank's experts believe the crisis has revealed systemic issues within DeFi:
- mismatch between asset types and liabilities in lending markets;
- risks associated with complex collateral;
- vulnerability of cross-chain bridges.
Analysts emphasized that the situation will accelerate the transition to the fourth version of the Aave protocol and the creation of an “Ethereum Economic Zone”. These updates are expected to reduce reliance on bridges, which are frequent targets for hackers.
Despite the incident, Standard Chartered has maintained its outlook for the market of tokenized assets. The bank anticipates that its market capitalization will grow from $30.19 billion in 2025 to $2 trillion by the end of 2028.
Source: Rwa.xyz.Kendrick believes the KelpDAO hack will only accelerate the maturation of DeFi infrastructure.
It is worth noting that Andrew Moss from Jefferies believes that the series of hacks in the DeFi sector could dampen Wall Street's interest in blockchain technologies.