LayerZero Admits Errors Following $292 Million Kelp Hack

LayerZero admits errors after $292M Kelp hack, plans changes to security protocols.

The LayerZero team has publicly apologized for its response to the Kelp hack and acknowledged that using a single verifier configuration to protect large transactions was a mistake.

https://t.co/EjIy0dePj0

— LayerZero (@LayerZero_Core) May 8, 2026

“We handled communication terribly over the past three weeks — we wanted to prioritize thoroughness in the form of comprehensive analysis, but we should have started with transparency,” the statement said.

On April 17, attackers withdrew approximately $292 million in rsETH from the Kelp liquid restaking protocol via a cross-chain bridge on the LayerZero platform. Investigations revealed that the attack was linked not to the smart contract but to infrastructure compromise and the use of a single verifier scheme (1/1 DVN).

Following the incident, LayerZero initially placed the blame on Kelp, claiming the issue was local. However, critics pointed out that the 1/1 DVN configuration was effectively a standard recommendation when integrating the protocol. According to Dune, about 47% of LayerZero applications used a similar scheme at the time of the attack.

Following the KelpDAO hack, we built an open analysis of DVN security configurations across every active OApp on LayerZero over the last 90 days.

Of ~2,665 unique OApp contracts: 47% run a 1-of-1 DVN security floor, 45% run 2-of-2, and ~5% run 3-of-3 or higher.

As we know,…

— Dune | We Are Hiring! (@Dune) April 20, 2026

“We made a mistake by allowing our DVN to operate as 1/1 for high-value transactions. We did not control the security of the solution, which created a risk we simply did not see,” LayerZero admitted.

The platform announced a series of changes, including:

• abandoning the single verifier configuration — a 5/5 scheme and at least 3/3 will be applied by default;
• developing a second DVN client;
• launching Console — a unified platform for monitoring security and anomalies for asset issuers;
• increasing the multisig threshold from 5/3 to 7/10 for all blockchains. 

In early May, the Kelp team decided to migrate to Chainlink’s CCIP interoperability protocol amid disagreements with LayerZero regarding the causes of the hack.

As reported, the bitcoin project Solv Protocol also abandoned LayerZero’s cross-chain infrastructure in favor of CCIP.