AAVE rsETH Crisis: DeFi Bent, Not Broken
Tech AAVE rsETH Crisis: DeFi Bent, Not Broken The DeFi ecosystem took a heavy blow from KelpDAO‘s rsETH exploit; however, according to Standard Chartered, this blow was not fatal. The “DeFi – Bent, not broken” report signed by Geoffrey Kendrick emphasizes that the 292 million dollars worth of rsETH stolen via a fake message over LayerZero on April 18 was funneled into the AAVE detailed analysis protocol, bringing systemic risk to light in the industry’s largest lending platform. Effects of the rsETH Exploit on the AAVE Protocol The attacker used uncollateralized rsETH as collateral to borrow real assets, triggering bank heist-like withdrawals across the protocol. Aave lost 17 billion dollars equivalent to 38% of total deposits and 5.5 billion dollars representing 31% of active loans. This event exposed the mismatch between staked assets and liabilities.Stolen amount: 292 million dollars rsETHAave losses: 17 billion dollars deposits (38%), 5.5 billion dollars loans (31%)Cause: Fake message exploit via LayerZero bridge AAVE Recovery Process and Next Steps A coalition led by Aave founder Stani Kulechov committed over 300 million dollars. Under the DeFi United initiative, Aave DAO, players like ARB detailed analysis, Consensys, and Lido focused on capital injections. Standard Chartered states that Aave V4 with the Ethereum Economic Zone