Kelp restaking protocol drained for $293M via LayerZero bridge

Kelp DAO, one of the largest Ethereum liquid restaking protocols, was exploited on April 18 for roughly $293 million. The attacker targeted Kelp's rsETH LayerZero bridge, draining wrapped ether collateral spread across more than 20 chains. Blockchain security firm Cyvers classified the incident as a 'cross-protocol contagion' event, with at least nine downstream protocols that used rsETH as collateral now reporting locked or stranded funds. Kelp's emergency pauser multisig froze core contracts 46 minutes after the initial drain, blocking two follow-up attempts but not before the main damage. This is the largest single DeFi exploit so far in 2026 and resurfaces long-standing concerns about omnichain collateral models.