KelpDAO is an Ethereum liquid-restaking project known for rsETH, a liquid restaking token representing assets restaked through the EigenLayer ecosystem. Its history now includes a major rsETH bridge exploit in April 2026 and later changes to supported networks. Older descriptions of its multichain features should be checked against current recovery and bridge notices.
How KelpDAO and rsETH Fit Together
Liquid restaking combines the risks and mechanics of liquid staking with a further layer of restaking. A user deposits supported liquid staking assets into Kelp and receives rsETH; those assets can then support restaking services. The resulting token is designed to remain transferable and composable in DeFi, but its market price, redemption path, and underlying positions may not behave identically across networks or during disruption.
Kelp is the Ethereum liquid-restaking product within the broader KernelDAO ecosystem. KernelDAO also describes separate restaking products, so the names should not be treated as interchangeable.
The April 2026 rsETH Bridge Incident
On April 18, 2026, an attacker caused the rsETH bridge to release 116,500 rsETH, valued at about $292 million at the time. Kelp’s April 19 statement said the bridge-verification infrastructure was operated by a third party outside Kelp’s operational domain and reported that the Ethereum mainnet backing and underlying restaking deposits remained intact. LayerZero’s later final report described a compromise of its RPC infrastructure and said the affected Kelp application had been configured with one verifier, so one attestation was sufficient. These are the parties’ published accounts; they emphasize different parts of the incident and should not be collapsed into a claim that only one component mattered.
The incident illustrates that a bridge can add a separate trust and configuration layer to a token whose underlying assets remain on another chain. It also affected markets that used bridged rsETH, so “the underlying deposits were intact” does not mean every holder or lending market avoided losses or disruption.
Network Changes and Risks
Kelp’s current recovery guide says older rsETH bridges were retired on a number of networks in June 2026. On October 5, 2026, the old rsETH on Base, Mantle, and Ink was retired as those networks moved to Chainlink CCIP. The guide also warns that old and new tokens can share the rsETH symbol while having different contract addresses. Eligible old-token recovery is described as available through June 15, 2027; readers should use the live official guide to distinguish tokens and routes. This entry does not provide transaction or recovery instructions.
Relevant risks include restaking and slashing risk, smart-contract and operator risk, bridge-verifier risk, liquidity or price dislocation, and confusion between tokens with the same symbol. Network support and recovery procedures can change, so a token ticker alone is not enough to identify an asset.
Social Media Sentiment
Reddit discussion immediately after the April 2026 incident focused on bridge verification, the single-verifier configuration, and the impact on rsETH and connected lending markets. One small r/ethtrader technical thread offered an explanation, while a broader Ethereum discussion included concern about the consequences for DeFi markets. These were incident-time reactions, not a measure of current user sentiment or a complete account of recoveries.
Last updated: 2026-10
Related Terms
See Also
- What Is Restaking?
- How Do Crypto Bridges Work?
- Why Smart Contract Audits Fail
- Exchange crypto with ChangeNOW
Sources
- Kelp’s April 19 Incident Response — records Kelp’s initial description of the bridge release and its assessment of the mainnet backing.
- LayerZero’s Final KelpDAO Incident Report — details the RPC compromise, single-verifier configuration, and 116,500 rsETH loss.
- Kelp’s rsETH Sunset-Network Recovery Guide — lists network transitions, token-identification warnings, and the stated recovery window.