Crypto Hacks Top $450M in Two Weeks, Kelp Exploit Drains $293M

Key Insights:

• More than $450M lost in major crypto hacks within two weeks.
• Kelp exploit drains $293M, forcing the rsETH contract shutdown.
• Social engineering drives the majority of recent crypto hacks.

Crypto hacks are on the rise, with the market losing a staggering $450 million in just two weeks. The latest blow came from Kelp, where an exploit drained nearly $293 million today.

This marks one of the largest attacks in recent months.

Kelp Exploit Leads $450M Crypto Hack Wave

In the latest episode in the growing number of crypto hacks, Kelp, a liquid restaking protocol, was hit with a major cyberattack.

While the crypto hack incident led to a loss of a massive $293 million, the team paused its rsETH smart contracts. The team is now investigating the security breach.

On April 19, 2026, Kelp took to the X platform and shared a post, revealing the crypto hack that shook the industry. The move came after the platform detected unusual cross-chain activity, raising concerns about a possible exploit. The X post read,

“Earlier today we identified suspicious cross-chain activity involving rsETH. We have paused rsETH contracts across mainnet and several L2s while we investigate.”

A Closer Look into the Crypto Hack

Kelp stated that the platform had temporarily halted rsETH contracts across the main network and multiple Layer-2 chains as a precaution. The crypto hack was later traced to a vulnerability in the rsETH adapter bridge. It is a key piece of code that manages how the token moves across chains.

Meanwhile, the security company Cyvers mentioned that due to such vulnerabilities, the attacker managed to withdraw up to $293 million from the protocol.

Stolen money went through the address associated with Tornado Cash, a popular crypto-mixer that is used for masking transactions. Moreover, the vast majority of the funds, about $250 million, was transformed into Ether (ETH). This makes recovery even more difficult.

The impact rapidly extended throughout the entire DeFi space. The protocol Aave acted in accordance with the incident and froze the markets involving rsETH in both V3 and V4 of its platform. Besides, at least nine other projects that had been exposed to the token have put a stop to activities.

Meanwhile, the crypto hack attack emphasizes the significant security threat posed by issues in cross-chain technology infrastructure.

Unveiling the $450M Crypto Hack Losses

Significantly, this incident adds another layer of complexity to the rising crypto hacks in 2026. More and more security breach cases are reported.

Yesterday, another major incident was reported. It is around Near Protocol’s Rhea Finance, which lost about $18.4 million in a security breach.

It is important to note that crypto hacks are accelerating rapidly. A massive $450 million is lost across 45 protocols in just two weeks.

The latest Kelp exploit adds more to this loss. What’s more interesting is that most of these crypto hacks were executed not by breaking codes.

Instead, attackers are using social engineering schemes and phishing attacks to target users. Nearly two-third of the losses, around $306 million is lost to such scams.

In one case, a simple fake support call led to a $282 million theft without any code being hacked. The $285 million Drift hack is a clear example.

Investigators found that attackers spent months manipulating team members through fake tools and apps before executing the attack. This proves that in crypto today, humans are often the weakest link.

The post Crypto Hacks Top $450M in Two Weeks, Kelp Exploit Drains $293M appeared first on The Coin Republic.