Arbitrum Freezes $ETH Worth $71M from KelpDAO Attacker

Arbitrum, an Ethereum L2 scaling platform, has recently achieved a milestone in the recovery of the recent KelpDAO exploit. In this respect, Arbitrum has officially seized $ETH coins worth of $71M from the attacker of the KelpDAO exploit. As per Arbitrum’s official social media post, the platform has recovered this staggering amount by cutting the exploiter’s access to it. Additionally, the development has raised optimism about the further recovery of funds from the exploiter.

Arbitrum(@arbitrum) froze the #KelpDAO hacker's 30,766 $ETH($71.15M) on Arbitrum 20 minutes ago.https://t.co/hXVuelrZbx pic.twitter.com/VS6SLgeMgc

— Lookonchain (@lookonchain) April 21, 2026

Arbitrum Announces Recovery of 30,766 $ETH from KelpDAO Exploiter

In line with the market data, Arbitrum has frozen 30,766 $ETH coins, accounting for $71M from the KelpDAO exploiter. Initially, the attacker named KelpDAO Exploiter 1 started a huge transaction of 30,765.667, equaling $71.15M to the address “0x000..00dA0.” The transfer was effectively confirmed via 84 block validations. Following that, within hours, the Security Council of Arbitrum intervened and froze the assets.

Apart from that, the Arbitrum Security Council also made sure that the exploiters could not access the seized $ETH coins. Particularly, the officials exercised technical diligence and avoided any disruption to applications, consumers, or the wider chain operations. After that, the platform has placed the seized $ETH coins under its restricted control. Therefore, further shifts will need governance authorization with some external parties.

Boosting Confidence in DeFi Security Response

The recovery of $71M from the KelpDAO exploiter is a notable development after an approximate $290M $rsETH bridge attack. The development took place following crucial law enforcement input, including the information regarding the identity of the explorer. Then, after a thorough technical review, the platform began intervention. Overall, this move reinforces confidence in the potential to react to such security incidents in the broader DeFi landscape.