Arbitrum Freezes $71 Million in Ether Linked to Kelp DAO Exploit
- On April 20, Arbitrum’s Security Council froze 30,766 ETH (approximately $71 million) linked to the Kelp DAO exploit.
- The funds were moved to an intermediary wallet that requires further governance action for access.
- This action recovers about a quarter of the $292 million stolen during the exploit involving compromised verifier infrastructure.
- The attack is preliminarily attributed to North Korea’s Lazarus Group by LayerZero.
- Kelp DAO is coordinating with partners on a recovery fund while disputing responsibility for the exploit with LayerZero.
The emergency freeze was executed with input from law enforcement and aims to protect users on the Layer2 network without impacting other applications. The outcome raises questions about governance interventions in decentralized finance ecosystems.
This intervention allows Kelp DAO a partial recovery option, as it retains $71 million offset against further losses from the exploit.(Source)
