Inside the Kelp/LayerZero Hack: How Lazarus Forged $292M Into Existence

A single lie, six layers deep, and the cascade that pulled in every major lending protocol on Ethereum

Inside the Kelp/LayerZero Hack: How Lazarus Forged $292M Into Existence A single lie, six layers deep, and the cascade that pulled in every major lending protocol on Ethereum Harry Donnelly Apr 20, 2026 6 Share 1. Introduction On April 18, Kelp’s Ethereum bridge released $292 million to an attacker. The largest DeFi exploit of the year. The bridge checked every box on its internal list before handing the funds over. The signature was valid. The verifier watching the source chain confirmed the transfer had happened. The problem was that none of it was real. The verifier had been fed lies by inf

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