Aave Loses ₱17.78 billion ($292 million) in Kelp DAO Exploit, Bad Debt Hits ₱14 billion ($230 million)
Aave absorbed ₱17.78 billion ($292 million) in losses after hackers exploited Kelp DAO's rsETH bridge, leaving the platform carrying between ₱10.35 billion ($170 million) and $230 million in bad debt. AAVE token crashed to $93.90 as retail traders capitulated while institutional money began accumulating.
Key Takeaway
Retail sold AAVE at $93 while whales positioned — bad debt crisis meets institutional accumulation.
April 2026 started with Aave positioned as DeFi's most trusted lending protocol and ended with the platform navigating its most damaging crisis. AAVE token crashed to $93.90 at its lowest point. February marked the decisive loss of trend with price collapsing through multiple support levels.
Filipino DeFi users with positions in Aave felt the burn directly — the protocol's high yields had attracted users from PDAX and Coins.ph looking to move beyond simple spot trading. Now they're watching their collateral ratios tighten as bad debt weighs on the system.
Binance market data shows retail traders capitulating with average spot order sizes for AAVE falling to just $80 to $100. The token now stabilizes in the $90 to $100 range. Buyers step in more consistently between $85 and $90, while sellers reject upward attempts in the $105 to $110 region.
Institutional money is positioning differently. Bitmine holds $10 billion in staked Ethereum with 88% locked in AAVE. CryptoQuant's report tracking AAVE's market structure shows a divergence between retail panic and smart money accumulation. Ethereum withdrawals from exchanges hit an 8-month low during the same period, with a break above $110 marking the first meaningful structure shift since the crisis began.
This article was written based on reporting from NewsBTC.
