{"id":586405,"date":"2026-04-20T08:24:20","date_gmt":"2026-04-20T08:24:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.crypto-news-flash.com\/?p=1292691"},"modified":"2026-04-20T08:24:20","modified_gmt":"2026-04-20T08:24:20","slug":"layerzero-points-to-lazarus-group-after-292-million-rseth-exploit-hits-kelp-dao","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/e-bitco.in\/index.php\/2026\/04\/20\/layerzero-points-to-lazarus-group-after-292-million-rseth-exploit-hits-kelp-dao\/","title":{"rendered":"LayerZero Points to Lazarus Group After $292 Million rsETH Exploit Hits Kelp DAO"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"eth-editorial-banner\"> <img decoding=\"async\" class=\"eth-editorial-logo\" src=\"https:\/\/www.crypto-news-flash.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/cnf2-scaled-1-1-1.png\" alt=\"Crypto News Flash\"> <span class=\"eth-editorial-text\">All news is rigorously fact-checked and reviewed by leading blockchain experts and seasoned industry insiders.<\/span> <\/div>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Kelp DAO lost 116,500 rsETH worth about $292 million on April 18, making it the biggest DeFi exploit of the year so far.<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>LayerZero said early indicators point to a highly sophisticated state actor, likely North Korea\u2019s Lazarus Group, specifically the TraderTraitor cluster.<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<hr>\n<p>Kelp DAO has been hit by what is now the year\u2019s largest <a href=\"https:\/\/www.crypto-news-flash.com\/what-are-defi-protocols\/\">DeFi<\/a> exploit, and LayerZero says the early signs point to a familiar, and deeply uncomfortable, culprit.<\/p>\n<p>On April 18, the LayerZero-powered cross-chain bridge tied to Kelp DAO lost 116,500 rsETH, worth roughly $292 million. In its latest statement, LayerZero <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/LayerZero_Core\/status\/2046081551574983137\" rel=\"nofollow\">said<\/a> preliminary indicators suggest the attacker was a \u201chighly sophisticated state actor,\u201d likely <a href=\"https:\/\/www.crypto-news-flash.com\/lazarus-group-5-2m-in-crypto-stolen\/\">North Korea\u2019s Lazarus Group<\/a>, and more specifically the TraderTraitor cluster.<\/p>\n<h2>LayerZero says the breach began with access to RPC node data<\/h2>\n<p>The company\u2019s explanation centers on the bridge\u2019s message verification layer. According to LayerZero, the attacker obtained access to the list of RPC nodes used by LayerZero Labs\u2019 decentralized verified network, or DVN. Those nodes are operated by independent entities and are responsible for verifying cross-chain messages.<\/p>\n<p>That matters because once an attacker gains insight into or leverage over the verification path, the whole premise of trusted cross-chain communication starts to weaken. In bridge exploits, that is usually where losses escalate fast. The <a href=\"https:\/\/www.crypto-news-flash.com\/smart-contracts\/\">smart contract<\/a> itself may not be the only problem. The messaging layer becomes the target.<\/p>\n<p>LayerZero has not yet laid out every operational detail, but the implication is clear enough. This was not a casual exploit or an opportunistic drain. It appears to have involved planning, infrastructure knowledge and the kind of tradecraft that security teams increasingly associate with state-backed operators.<\/p>\n<h2>Another major DeFi exploit revives bridge security fears<\/h2>\n<p>The Lazarus attribution, even if still preliminary, gives the incident broader weight. North Korean-linked groups have already been tied to some of the largest crypto thefts in the market\u2019s history, and bridge infrastructure remains one of their preferred pressure points because it concentrates liquidity and trust assumptions in one place.<\/p>\n<p>For DeFi, the Kelp DAO loss is another reminder that cross-chain systems still carry some of the sector\u2019s highest technical and operational risks. Scale helps them grow quickly. It also means that when something fails, the damage is rarely contained.<\/p>\n<p>This time, the number is $292 million, and the message from LayerZero is that the attacker may have been exactly the kind of adversary the industry fears most.<\/p>\n<p> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.crypto-news-flash.com\/\">Source<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>All news is rigorously fact-checked and reviewed by leading blockchain experts and seasoned industry insiders. Kelp DAO lost 116,500 rsETH worth about $292 million on April 18, making it the biggest DeFi exploit of the year so far. LayerZero said early indicators point to a highly sophisticated state actor, likely North Korea\u2019s Lazarus Group, specifically [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":586406,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[25],"class_list":{"0":"post-586405","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-other","8":"tag-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/e-bitco.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/586405","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/e-bitco.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/e-bitco.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/e-bitco.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/e-bitco.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=586405"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/e-bitco.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/586405\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/e-bitco.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/586406"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/e-bitco.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=586405"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/e-bitco.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=586405"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/e-bitco.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=586405"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}