Aave service providers submitted a governance proposal on Friday to contribute 25,000 ETH, valued at nearly $58 million, to the DeFi United relief effort. The initiative aims to restore backing for rsETH following a recent exploit of the Kelp DAO protocol, according to reporting from The Block.
The proposed contribution seeks to close the remaining funding gap left by an attacker who used a compromised LayerZero bridge to mint unbacked rsETH. The attacker then used the assets as collateral on Aave to borrow real assets, leaving the protocol with significant bad debt.
Aave's proposal joins several other ecosystem participants pledging funds to the coordinated relief effort. On Thursday, Lido DAO and Ether.fi proposed contributions of up to 2,500 ETH and 5,000 ETH, respectively.
Individual leaders within the Aave ecosystem also pledged personal assets. Aave Senior VP of Engineering Emilio Frangella committed 500 ETH, while protocol founder and CEO Stani Kulechov pledged 5,000 ETH, describing the protocol as his "life's work."
Stabilizing the DeFi ecosystem
Other protocols are also providing liquidity to prevent further protocol instability. Mantle proposed a low-interest credit facility of up to 30,000 ETH to assist Aave in absorbing any remaining bad debt.
As of April 24, 2026, the DeFi United fund has reached approximately 69,534 ETH, or nearly $161 million, through contributions from Golem, Bolid, BGD Labs, and various individual users. Some analysts believe the funding gap may already be resolved.
According to X user DCF GOD, the combination of all proposed contributions and the freezing of roughly 30,700 ETH on Arbitrum following the attack could mean the hole has been filled, provided all proposals pass. This potential surplus could reduce the amount of capital Aave needs to borrow from Mantle.
The exploit occurs during a period of declining liquidity in the decentralized finance sector. Data from The Block shows that total value locked (TVL) across DeFi protocols has dropped to just above $80 billion, representing a decrease of more than 27% since the start of the year.
