Jack Paul 
KelpDAO has made good on its promise to the DeFi United recovery effort. On April 30, the protocol announced it completed its committed contribution, sending 2,000 ETH from its treasury to the fund led by Aave. The goal is to restore the peg for rsETH and help the system return to normal operation.
The funding is a one-time investment aimed at bringing rsETH back to its nominal exchange rate. This comes after a devastating exploit on April 18 that drained roughly 116,500 rsETH, worth around $290 million to $293 million, from KelpDAO’s LayerZero-powered bridge. That amounted to about 18% of rsETH’s total supply.
Why this matters for rsETH holders
KelpDAO emphasized that its internal commitment, made before any public statement, was that “rsETH holders will not be abandoned.” The contribution is a direct reflection of that pledge, they said. The attacker used the stolen tokens as collateral across Aave, Compound v3, and Euler, borrowing an estimated $236 million in ETH and WETH. This left several protocols with significant bad debt.
The recovery effort, dubbed DeFi United, brings together multiple ecosystem players including Mantle, Consensys, Arbitrum, Lido Finance, and LayerZero. They have put together a plan that involves recapitalizing the bridging treasury, restoring oracle functionality, and addressing funding gaps in affected markets. So far, the coalition has tentatively raised more than $302 million, much of it from DAOs and crypto businesses within the ecosystem.
Major contributors step up
Some of the largest contributions include Consensys and Joseph Lubin with 30,000 ETH (approximately $69 million), Mantle with 30,000 ETH as a low-interest loan, Aave DAO with a pending vote for 25,000 ETH (approximately $57.5 million), and LayerZero with 10,000 ETH (approximately $23 million). The Arbitrum Security Council also froze 30,766 ETH (about $71 million) in attacker funds, pending a governance vote.
KelpDAO stated its investment helps accelerate the overall repair process. As funds from various parties gradually come into place, collateral support for rsETH should start returning to normal. The company committed to continue updating the community as the recovery progresses. For now, the focus remains on stabilizing the system and restoring confidence after a very rough few weeks.