"Another 300 billion won stolen"...DeFi market 'shocked' by worst hack of 2026

▲ Cryptocurrency crime, cryptocurrency hacking/AI generated image

The DeFi (Decentralized Finance) market has once again faced a major security incident. With cumulative damages exceeding hundreds of millions of dollars in just a few weeks, a sense of crisis is rapidly spreading throughout the industry.

According to the cryptocurrency media outlet The Street on April 19th local time, the DeFi protocol Kelp DAO suffered a hack of approximately $293 million, making it the largest attack recorded in 2026.

This incident is taken more seriously because it is not an isolated event. In less than 20 days since the beginning of this year, over $600 million has already been leaked through hacks, and at least 12 projects have been affected.

Kelp DAO is an Ethereum-based 'liquid restaking' protocol that issues rsETH tokens when staking assets like stETH or cbETH are deposited. The problem was the 'bridge' structure built to utilize this rsETH across various blockchains. In the process of circulating tokens across different networks, a large amount of collateral is concentrated in the center, and this point is analyzed to have acted as a critical vulnerability for the attack.

The industry views this incident not as a simple hack but as a recurrence of 'structural risk.' It is pointed out that the attack surface is continuously expanding as the complex smart contract structure unique to DeFi combines with cross-chain bridge designs.

Indeed, looking at major hacking incidents that have occurred since 2026, there is a growing trend of attacks targeting overall system design vulnerabilities rather than simple code errors. As attackers become increasingly sophisticated, there is an analysis that attacks utilizing complex structures rather than single vulnerabilities are on the rise.

Market reaction is also rapidly cooling. Repeated major hacking incidents are acting as a key factor in eroding investor confidence, and risk premiums are expanding, especially for DeFi projects with large deposited assets.

*Disclaimer: This article is for investment reference only, and we are not responsible for any investment losses based on it. The content should be interpreted for informational purposes only.*