Kelp Hack Triggers $15 Billion Withdrawal from Aave

Aave users withdrew $15.1 billion following the Kelp hack.

In the three and a half days following the Kelp hack, users of the lending protocol Aave withdrew assets amounting to $15.1 billion. Analysts at EmberCN highlighted this development.

Aave 上的资金还在持续流出，3 天半的时间已经流出了 $151 亿：总存款量从出事前的 $485 亿到现在的 $307 亿，差不多是跑了三分之一的资金。

另两家主流借贷平台的情况
◎Morpho：总存款量从 rsETH 事件前的 $117 亿到现在的 $102 亿，跑了 $15 亿资金。
◎Spark：SparkLend 业务 TVL 从 rsETH… https://t.co/q7purUiLvb pic.twitter.com/hMacfNPMyJ

— 余烬 (@EmberCN) April 22, 2026

From April 18 to 22, the total deposit amount fell from $48.5 billion to $30.7 billion, with the protocol losing over a third of its volume.

The situation varies across other major lending platforms:

• Morpho lost $1.5 billion, with deposits decreasing from $11.7 billion to $10.2 billion following the rsETH incident;
• Conversely, Spark attracted $1.3 billion, with its TVL increasing from $1.9 billion to $3.2 billion.

“Spark absorbed the funds withdrawn from Aave by major investors and institutions, such as Brother Sun […]”, noted EmberCN.

Analysts at Lookonchain identified one of the “fleeing” whales. A user created a new wallet and deposited 9500 wstETH into Spark. He then borrowed 9500 ETH (~$22.68 million), exchanged them for USDE stablecoins through Binance, and withdrew the assets to Aave to repay loans.

Whale 0xD91D created a new wallet (0xEb2a) and deposited 9,500 $wstETH into #Spark.

He then borrowed 9,500 $ETH ($22.68M), sent it to #Binance to sell, and withdrew $USDE from Binance to repay loans on #Aave.https://t.co/86bLqsumfchttps://t.co/i2nXYVIrOD pic.twitter.com/CWjqBPxHTP

— Lookonchain (@lookonchain) April 22, 2026

In the latest update on the incident, Aave representatives stated that wETH reserves on the Ethereum Core V3 market have been unfrozen, allowing users to replenish their balances with “wrapped” ether.

“The wETH transaction-to-value ratio remains at zero. wETH reserves on Ethereum Prime, Arbitrum, Base, Mantle, and Linea remain locked,” the statement said.

The native AAVE token has reacted negatively to the outflow of funds, though it has managed a slight recovery in the past 24 hours. The coin is currently trading around $94, having lost 8% over the week.

According to observations by Alphractal CEO Joao Wedson, major players and top traders are aggressively opening short positions on AAVE. Meanwhile, retail investors are acting contrary to the bearish sentiment, he added.

Whales and top traders have been aggressively positioning in shorts on AAVE.

Interestingly, retail investors are positioning against this sentiment.

These large entities are doing everything they can to eliminate all retail hope in altcoins.

Something big is about to happen… pic.twitter.com/JrrCskohz6

— Joao Wedson (@joao_wedson) April 22, 2026

On April 21, Arbitrum network developers froze 30,766 ETH as part of the investigation into the Kelp hack.