DeFi TVL crashes on top chains after KelpDAO Hack

Ethereum's total value dropped nearly 11 percent in 24 hours, while Bitcoin, Tron, and BSC were not as affected.

The fallout from the weekend's $293 million KLPDAO exploit has spread across the DeFi ecosystem, with Total Value Locked (TVL) on several chains dropping significantly over the past 24 hours.

According to data from chain-based analytics platform DeFillama, at least 126 of the networks it tracks were in the red, the most severe with CosmoHub, which lost more than 1,500% of TVL in that period.

Broad-based retreat between major chains

Anonymous analyst Vette brought attention to the decline, writing in a post on X that TVL is going down on all of the top 20 DeFi chains. “Money is coming out,” people say, “risk/reward.”

In fact, when CryptoPotato examined the data, we found that the returns were wide, even if the size varied. For example, Ethereum, the largest DeFi chain with more than 1,700 protocols, posted a nearly 11% 24-hour TVL dip. Its closest rival, Solana, fell more than 4% in the last day, although the change was relatively better in one month at 19.06%.

Arbitrum, Base, and Avalanche also saw their TVL rates increase by 9.97%, 5.76%, and 6.61%, respectively, while Bitcoin, Tron, and BSC were the least affected by TVL among the ten chains, with none of them suffering more than 1.6%. Meanwhile, within that group, Hyperliquid suffered the most, shedding more than 12 percent of its total asset value and pushing its dollar value to $1.44 billion.

Outside of the 10, the losses were sharp, Mantle pointed out, DeFillama founder 0xngmi as one of the most exposed to bad debt after the hack, along with Base and Arbitrum, down almost 42%. The other worst hit Tyco lost 22% of TVL. Monad, which fell 13.21% in 24 hours; and Berachain, more than 17% deeper

Other chains have profited

The flight has not reached every corner, though, with some smaller chains posting profitability. One of them, the Q protocol, jumped 477% in 24 hours, while Oasys and Shibarium also gained 90.6% and 85% in the green.

You may also like:

The KelpDAO hack is the worst security breach in the DeFi space this year. According to reports, more than $293 million was lost in the liquidity recovery protocol after an attacker exploited the bridge contract. LayerZero claimed that the Lazarus group's merchant recruitment division was behind the attack.