Private key compromises are emerging as one of crypto’s costliest attack vectors, with hackers stealing more than $17 billion across 518 recorded incidents over the past decade, according to data platform DefiLlama. In data shared Tuesday, DefiLlama’s dashboard shows a large share of those incidents stemmed from compromised private keys, alongside phishing and other credential-based…

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Ethereum layer-2 blockchain Arbitrum on Monday froze more than 30,000 Ether worth about $71.2 million held in a wallet connected to the recent exploit of the Kelp protocol. Arbitrum said on Monday that its security council, a 12-member body elected by the Arbitrum community, took “emergency action” to freeze 30,766 Ether (ETH) that was held…

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Total value locked on decentralized lending protocol Aave dropped by nearly $8 billion over the weekend after hackers behind the $293 million Kelp DAO exploit borrowed funds on Aave, leaving roughly $195 million in “bad debt” on the protocol and triggering withdrawals. Data from DeFiLlama shows that Aave’s TVL fell from about $26.4 billion to…

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Interoperability protocol LayerZero claims that an inadequate setup tied to Kelp’s decentralized verifier network (DVN) enabled malicious actors to steal $290 million from Kelp DAO, adding that preliminary signs point to North Korea-linked threat actors. An attacker drained about 116,500 Restaked ETH (rsETH), worth as much as $293 million at the time, from Kelp DAO’s…

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The exploit of the Kelp liquid restaking protocol shows how non-isolated lending and integrations in decentralized finance (DeFi) can cause broader ecosystem contagion, according to crypto industry executives and blockchain security firms. Non-isolated lending on DeFi platforms, including earlier versions of the Aave lending protocol, exposes users to risks from all the various tokens used…

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RaveDAO has denied any role in the recent surge and sharp collapse of its RAVE token, as major crypto exchanges open probes into trading activity following allegations of market manipulation. In a thread posted on X, the project said it was “not engaged in, nor responsible for, recent price action,” responding to mounting scrutiny after…

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AllUnity, a regulated European stablecoin issuer, is expanding its euro-pegged stablecoin, EURAU, across major decentralized exchanges (DEXs). The company announced Thursday that its EURAU stablecoin is entering liquidity pools across major DEXs, including Uniswap, currently the largest decentralized exchange by trading volumes. The rollout includes two EURAU trading pairs, one against Tether USDt (USDT) on…

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Stablecoins behave like a fragmented foreign exchange market, where liquidity is spread across blockchains and pools, creating price differences and uneven access to dollar liquidity. Moving stablecoins looks simple on the surface. But under the hood, it’s often a multi-step transaction routed across chains and pools. “It’s a very special case of a foreign exchange…

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Circle Internet Group is facing a class action lawsuit led by a Drift Protocol investor claiming it failed to freeze funds stolen in a $280 million exploit of the protocol on April 1. The lawsuit was filed by Drift investor Joshua McCollum on behalf of over 100 members in a US district court in Massachusetts…

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At least 12 DeFi protocols and crypto businesses have been attacked in just over two weeks since the $280 million Drift Protocol exploit on April 1. Attacks aimed at crypto protocols or companies since the start of April include CoW Swap, Hyperbridge, Bybit, Dango, Silo Finance, BSC TMM, Aethir, MONA, Zerion and, most recently, Rhea…

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