Aave TVL still down 43% since KelpDAO hack

Aave, one of crypto’s largest lending and borrowing protocols, still hasn’t recovered from the April 18 hack of KelpDAO.

Indeed, the value of all crypto assets in its smart contracts is down 43% since the attack, and 67% below its 52-week high.

Despite KelpDAO users entrusting $26.4 billion to Aave just prior to the hack — already way down on the October 2025 peak of $45.9 billion — there’s a mere $14.9 billion worth of assets in the ecosystem today.

North Korean hackers looted KelpDAO in mid-April, and through its acceptance of KelpDAO tokens as collateral for loans, Aave was left nursing a nine-figure loss.

North Korea infected the industry

Despite Aave itself never being hacked, per its own report, its utility for lending cost it a long-held title as DeFi’s biggest platform. Four months later, depositors still have cold feet.

LayerZero, the KelpDAO bridge’s software provider, blamed North Korea within 48 hours — an early call that outside investigators later confirmed.

KelpDAO takes deposits of ETH, stakes on Ethereum’s blockchain for yield, and issues a tradeable receipt token called rsETH. The thieves parked stolen rsETH on Aave and borrowed real ETH against it, leaving Aave and fellow lender Compound with an estimated $246 million of combined bad debt.

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