Kelp DAO’s rsETH bridge allegedly drained for roughly $292M in LayerZero-based attack

What happened

It has been reported that an attacker targeted Kelp DAO’s LayerZero-powered cross-chain bridge and drained roughly $292 million worth of rsETH. The exploit is described as LayerZero-based; investigators are still piecing together exactly which messaging or routing step was abused, and the chain of transfers is being tracked. Allegedly, the withdrawals moved fast — and large.

Immediate response

Kelp paused all rsETH contracts after the incident, a move meant to stop further outflows and give teams time to audit and coordinate a response. Smart-contract freezes and pauses are blunt but effective first steps. They don’t undo the loss, though; they buy time to trace funds, notify exchanges, and alert law enforcement and on-chain recovery partners.

Bigger picture

Cross-chain bridges have been the Achilles’ heel of crypto for years — so is anyone surprised? This incident underlines the ongoing risk in routing assets across messaging layers and aggregators, even when those layers (like LayerZero) are widely used. Will the industry learn and harden bridges, or keep papering over the same fault lines? For now, users and protocols will be watching wallet flows and forensic reports closely.

Sources: theblock.co