Bitcoin Reclaims $76,000 as KelpDAO Hack Triggers $14 Billion DeFi Exodus
Bitcoin is widely viewed as a key gauge of global risk appetite, while total value locked (TVL) in DeFi reflects the amount of capital deployed on-chain. The cryptocurrency’s stabilization coincided with a KelpDAO security breach, underscoring the coexistence of market resilience and protocol risk while reshaping flows involving Aave, Maker Spark and USDC.
KelpDAO suffered an exploit worth about $292 million over the weekend of July 18–19, 2026. DeFi TVL subsequently fell by about $14 billion at one point to a one-year low, although analysts attributed roughly $13 billion of the decline to cascading liquidations rather than actual losses. Bitcoin rebounded after falling below $74,000 and reclaimed $76,000.
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The history behind this eventKelp DAO’s $292 Million Hack Is 2026’s Largest Crypto Exploit
Kelp DAO is an Ethereum liquid-restaking protocol that issues tradable rsETH when users deposit ETH and uses the LayerZero bridge to deploy the token across more than 20 chains. The incident exposed concentration risks in a single verification network and in cross-chain infrastructure. It also disrupted lending markets including Aave, SparkLend and Fluid, and became the largest DeFi hack of 2026 to date.
On April 18, 2026, the attacker used forged cross-chain messages to withdraw 116,500 rsETH, then worth about $292 million and representing roughly 18% of the circulating supply. Kelp DAO said on May 26 that rsETH had been restored. By June 1, however, nearly all of the roughly $220 million in unfrozen stolen funds had been laundered, leaving only about $1.7 million in the originally flagged wallets. Another $71 million had been frozen.
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