After Disputing LayerZero Claims, KelpDAO Prepares Chainlink CCIP Migration
KelpDAO has publicly disputed claims made by LayerZero Labs concerning the April 18, 2026, exploit. In the most recent publish on X, it argued that the incident stemmed from failures inside LayerZero’s infrastructure relatively than any misconfiguration by itself platform.
According to KelpDAO, attackers exploited LayerZero’s methods, ensuing within the lack of greater than $300 million throughout a number of DeFi protocols. The staff additional revealed that two extra cast transactions value over $100 million have been efficiently signed and processed by LayerZero’s DVN earlier than being halted after Kelp intervened and paused its contracts.
KelpDAO Counters LayerZero Narrative
Kelp claimed that this early response prevented additional monetary harm, although the underlying bridging infrastructure remained energetic for a while after the difficulty had been detected and reported.
At the middle of the dispute is LayerZero’s assertion that the exploit resulted from a configuration concern particular to KelpDAO. Kelp rejected this rationalization, whereas claiming that the configuration in query was extensively used throughout the LayerZero ecosystem and aligned with its official documentation.
Data cited by Kelp signifies that a good portion of LayerZero purposes relied on comparable DVN setups, together with many working beneath a 1-1 configuration involving LayerZero’s personal DVN. This setup was neither distinctive nor experimental however a part of commonplace deployment practices adopted by quite a few protocols.
Kelp additionally defined that LayerZero’s DVN is a core part of its ecosystem and is included in default configurations supplied to builders. The firm identified that LayerZero’s documentation and quickstart templates information builders towards these default setups, typically with out requiring extra DVNs. Kelp said that it adopted these pointers and maintained common communication with the LayerZero staff since integrating the infrastructure in early 2024. During this era, Kelp added that its configuration decisions have been reviewed and accredited, and there was no indication that the setup posed a safety threat.
Reports cited by Kelp describe compromised off-chain methods accountable for monitoring blockchain exercise, in addition to fraudulent attestations triggered by the DVN. Some researchers have detailed the occasion as a broader infrastructure breach relatively than a restricted RPC concern, which, once more, factors to compromised nodes and weaknesses inside LayerZero’s belief boundary.
Meanwhile, LayerZero Labs admitted in its postmortem that attackers accessed RPC endpoints utilized by its DVN and took management of a number of nodes earlier than finishing up what it referred to as an RPC spoofing assault. However, Kelp and unbiased analysts consider that this description downplays the difficulty, as faux messages have been nonetheless accredited regardless of safeguards.
Transition to Chainlink
KelpDAO carried out fast measures to safe its methods in response. This included pausing contracts and conducting a full evaluate of its bridging infrastructure. As a part of its long-term technique, the protocol has introduced plans emigrate away from LayerZero’s OFT commonplace and undertake the Cross-Chain Interoperability Protocol (CCIP) developed by Chainlink.
This transition will transfer rsETH to Chainlink’s Cross-Chain Token commonplace. The protocol revealed that the intention of this modification is to cut back reliance on single factors of failure whereas strengthening cross-chain safety going ahead.
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