DeFi United Raises ₱18.48 billion ($302 million) to Cover Kelp DAO Hack Losses

Aave CEO Stani Kulechov contributed 5,000 Ether worth around ₱672.98 million ($11 million) to the DeFi United recovery fund, which has raised ₱18.48 billion ($302 million) in pledges to date. The fund launched days after North Korean hackers deposited $200 million of stolen rsETH as collateral on Aave, leaving the protocol with $177 million in unrecoverable bad debt and triggering a 50% drop in its deposit base.

Arbitrum DAO, Mantle, and Consensys each pledged 30,000 Ether to the fund. Ether.Fi committed 5,000 Ether while Lido DAO pledged 2,500 Ether. Kelp DAO and LayerZero, the bridge technology provider, also promised contributions.

Crypto VC Haseeb Qureshi said he might have to take back everything he said criticizing Ethereum rainbows and unicorns, noting that sometimes they are exactly what a community needs. He was surprised the initiative came together through donations.

Former Euler Labs CEO Michael Bentley said DeFi United has a much nicer ring to it than bailout, suggesting the initiative is good marketing. Tokédex founder Robby Greenfield argued the fund asks much of the DAO without requiring systemic reform to prevent the exact same failure from recurring.

Voting began today on a proposal from TokenLogic, an Aave DAO service provider, to contribute 25,000 Ether from the cooperative treasury. TokenLogic argued that conditioning disbursement on deliverables in a separate workstream would introduce delays and ambiguity at a moment requiring broader, industry-wide, aligned action.

Tron founder Justin Sun plans to deposit stablecoins in Aave to stabilize lending markets, adding to support from the Solana Foundation that began April 18.