Attackers linked to North Korea's Lazarus Group compromised off-chain RPC nodes and a single-point-of-failure verification (DVN) setup to trick KelpDAO's bridge into releasing ~116,500 rsETH (~$292M); contracts were paused to block a second ~$95M theft.
The Token Generation Event was held on April 14, 2025, with the Season 1 airdrop opening for claims; $KERNEL became the unified governance/utility token across the merged Kernel, Kelp, and Gain products, unifying a ~$2B+ TVL ecosystem.
The round was led by SCB Limited and Laser Digital (crypto unit of Nomura), with participation from Bankless Ventures, Hypersphere Ventures, Draper Dragon, GSR and others, to fund the liquid restaking platform's growth.
Kelp DAO, then the third-largest liquid restaking protocol, launched the 'kelp earned points' (KEP) token so restakers could transfer and trade otherwise illiquid EigenLayer points; KEP claims were later suspended and shifted to EigenLayer token distributions.
Kelp went live in December 2023, taking deposits of ETH and liquid staking tokens (stETH, rETH, cbETH) that are restaked via EigenLayer and issuing the liquid restaked token rsETH in return.
Co-founders Amitej Gajjala and Dheeraj Borra (previously co-founders of Stader Labs) first introduced Kelp DAO in November 2023 to build a liquid restaking protocol on Ethereum 'to unlock liquidity, DeFi, and higher rewards for restaked assets.'