Arbitrum Security Council freezes $71M in ETH from KelpDAO exploiter addresses

Arbitrum’s Security Council froze 30,766 ETH tied to the KelpDAO exploit. The funds were moved on Arbitrum One into an intermediary frozen wallet pending further governance action. Arbitrum, Arkham.

Headline: Arbitrum council freezes 30,766 ETH from KelpDAO exploit, moves $70.97M to frozen address

Arkham confirmed $70.97M was removed from the exploiter and sent to 0x0000000000000000000000000000000000000DA0. Arkham.

Arbitrum said it acted under emergency powers. The council cited input from law enforcement on the exploiter’s identity. It said no Arbitrum users or apps were affected. Arbitrum.

KelpDAO was hit on April 18 for about $290M. LayerZero called it isolated to KelpDAO’s rsETH single-DVN setup. KelpDAO cited a forged cross-chain message. NewsBTC.

KelpDAO thanked Arbitrum’s council, ecosystem partners, and Security Alliance’s SEAL 911 for coordination. KelpDAO.

The move reignited the decentralization debate. Council member Griff Green called it an extraordinary but necessary intervention after “countless hours” of debate. Griff Green. Critics argued it shows how a small emergency body can control assets. One noted “only Bitcoin can save you.” Deestar.

At press time, Arbitrum (ARB) traded at $0.1266. ARB.

Key facts
- 30,766 ETH frozen; $70.97M moved to 0x…0DA0. Arbitrum, Arkham
- Emergency action with law enforcement input; no user impact reported. Arbitrum
- KelpDAO exploit on Apr 18 (~$290M); isolated rsETH config per LayerZero; forged message per KelpDAO. NewsBTC, KelpDAO
- Governance power sparked decentralization debate. Griff Green, Deestar