Today in crypto, the contagion from the Kelp exploit could have been contained, but at the cost of capital efficiency, according to the founder of Curve Finance, RaveDAO denies involvement in RAVE token price surge and crash, and Elizabeth Warren accused SEC Chair Paul Atkins of possibly misleading Congress.
Kelp exploit highlights problem with non-isolated DeFi lending: Crypto execs
The exploit of the Kelp liquid restaking protocol shows how non-isolated lending and integrations in decentralized finance (DeFi) can cause broader ecosystem contagion, according to crypto industry executives and blockchain security firms.
Non-isolated lending on DeFi platforms, including earlier versions of the Aave lending protocol, exposes users to risks from all the various tokens used as collateral on the platforms, according to Michael Egorov, founder of the Curve Finance DeFi protocol.
Kelp was the target of a cyber attack on Saturday, causing the platform to pause smart contracts for its restaking token (rsETH) while it moved to investigate the attack that left the platform drained of about $293 million.
DeFi teams should also vet prospective digital assets to ensure that tokens do not feature single points of failure or attack surfaces before approving tokens as lending collateral on their platforms, Egorov said in an email.
RaveDAO denies manipulation as Binance, Bitget probe RAVE trading activity
RaveDAO has denied any role in the recent surge and sharp collapse of its RAVE token, as major crypto exchanges open probes into trading activity following allegations of market manipulation.
In a thread posted on X, the project said it was “not engaged in, nor responsible for, recent price action,” responding to mounting scrutiny after RAVE soared from roughly $0.25 to nearly $28 within days before plunging more than 80%.
The denial comes as onchain investigator ZachXBT accused the project of orchestrating a pump-and-dump scheme, pointing to concentrated token holdings and suspicious exchange flows. He claimed that more than 90% of the token supply may be controlled by insiders, calling on exchanges to take action.
Both Binance and Bitget confirmed they are reviewing the situation. “We’re looking into it,” Binance CEO Richard Teng wrote, while Bitget CEO Gracy Chen said the exchange had “started investigating” RAVE trading activity.
Warren claims SEC’s Atkins likely misled Congress
US Senator Elizabeth Warren, the top Democrat on the Senate Banking Commitee, accused Paul Atkins, the head of the Securities and Exchange Commission, of possibly misleading Congress about the agency’s enforcement activity.
Warren said in a letter to Atkins dated Wednesday that the SEC’s enforcement data for fiscal year 2025, released on April 7, raised “significant concerns” about his answers at a Feb. 12 congressional hearing, where Warren said Atkins told her he was “not sure what data” the Senator was looking at when asked about “a decline in SEC enforcement activity.”
“Now, it is clear that my assertion regarding the SEC’s declining enforcement actions was correct: the data you released last week show that the number of enforcement actions initiated by the SEC was lower than at any point in the last decade,” Warren said.
Warren said the SEC’s enforcement data showed its enforcement activity had dropped to the lowest level in more than 20 years. She added the hearing took place more than four months after the end of the fiscal year, and Atkins’ “deflection and claim to be unsure of the ‘data’ I was examining now appear deeply misleading, potentially designed to cast doubt on the now obvious fact that enforcement activity has declined significantly.”
