Aave TVL falls to $14.56B

Aave’s total value locked fell to $14.56 billion by May 19, down about 45% from $26.4 billion in the 30 days since the April 18 KelpDAO rsETH exploit, according to CCN. The report said total supplied and total borrowed on the lending protocol fell to their lowest levels in more than a year after the attack. Weekly active users also dropped to 23,400 from a post-exploit peak of 53,000, CCN reported. The April 18 exploit hit KelpDAO’s LayerZero-based rsETH bridge, according to Aave governance materials and other industry reports. Aave’s April 20 incident report said the attack began at 17:35 UTC on Ethereum block 24,908,285 and involved unbacked rsETH being minted and used across DeFi markets. ### How did a KelpDAO exploit end up hitting Aave? (ccn.com) Aave governance said on April 20 that the rsETH incident involved KelpDAO’s bridge infrastructure rather than an exploit of Aave’s own code. The problem for Aave was that rsETH was used as collateral in its markets, tying the protocol to the fallout once confidence in the asset broke. (governance.aave.com) CCN reported that the decline spread across Aave’s core operating metrics over the following month. The outlet said weekly fees fell 66% and revenue dropped 62% as utilization and borrowing demand weakened. ### What numbers show the damage most clearly? CCN’s May 19 report gave the clearest snapshot of the pullback: TVL at $14.56 billion, weekly users at 23,400, and borrowing activity at a one-year low. (governance.aave.com) Those figures followed a month in which depositors and borrowers pulled back after the exploit. Bitcoin.com, citing DefiLlama data, said Aave lost $11.6 billion in TVL over 30 days and described the protocol as one of the DeFi platforms most affected by the broader loss of confidence after the breach. (ccn.com) That framing matches the direction of the CCN data, though the figures were reported separately. ### Was there any sign of buyers stepping in? An anonymous wallet bought 11,206 AAVE for about $1 million at an average price of $89.24 and deposited the tokens into Aave V3, according to on-chain tracking cited by BitcoinWorld syndication and other crypto news services. CoinNess said the address began with 0x0bb8 and still held 5,007 ETH, worth about $10.56 million. (news.bitcoin.com) That purchase did not change the broader operating data reported by CCN, but it showed at least one large holder adding exposure while the protocol was still dealing with the aftermath of the exploit. That is an inference from the timing of the trade and the reported decline in Aave’s metrics. ### What has Aave said about the incident? Aave’s April 20 incident report said service providers compiled the review using the best verified information then available. (cryptonews.net) The report acknowledged feedback from on-chain researcher banteg and set out the sequence of events around the exploit. Cryptopolitan reported last week that Arbitrum DAO had voted to unlock and liquidate stolen ETH linked to the exploit. (cryptonews.net) Aave governance forums have also hosted follow-up discussions about exploit-related bad debt and related cases since late April. ### Where does the story go from here? Aave governance forum posts dated April 20 and April 29 remain the main public record for the protocol’s response and the debate over exploit-related losses. (governance.aave.com) The next concrete updates are likely to come through those governance threads, where service providers and community members are still discussing bad debt, liquidations and market recovery. (cryptopolitan.com)