State-sponsored North Korean hackers linked to the Lazarus group executed a $290 million heist against KelpDAO, a decentralized finance project, on Saturday.
The attack marks another significant breach in the DeFi sector, which has repeatedly faced security vulnerabilities. Lazarus, attributed to North Korea's government, has conducted multiple high-profile cryptocurrency thefts over the past years, targeting exchanges and blockchain protocols to fund state operations.
KelpDAO provides liquid staking services on the Ethereum network. The breach compromised the platform's security infrastructure, allowing attackers to extract substantial cryptocurrency holdings.
The incident follows a pattern of escalating crypto-related attacks targeting DeFi platforms and exchanges. Security firms are investigating the breach to determine the exact attack vector and whether additional vulnerabilities exist in similar protocols.
KelpDAO has not yet released a detailed incident report. The stolen funds typically flow through mixing services and decentralized exchanges to obscure their origin, complicating recovery efforts. Authorities continue tracking the movement of assets across blockchain networks.
Kelp DAO has completed recovery of its restaked Ether token following a five-week effort to address a $293 million exploit attributed to North Korea's Lazarus Group in April.
Morgan Stanley launched a cryptocurrency trading pilot on E*Trade with lower fees than Coinbase, Robinhood, and Charles Schwab. The firm plans a broader rollout in 2026.
Crypto exchange Bullish agreed to acquire UK-based financial services outsourcing firm Equiniti from Siris Capital for $4.2 billion. The deal is expected to close in January 2027.
Crypto investor Katie Haun has closed $1 billion in new venture funds, marking an expansion beyond digital assets into artificial intelligence and agentic finance.