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Base Fixes Transaction Delays After Config Error, Preserves L2 Lead

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Crypto Breaking News

Base, Coinbase’s Ethereum layer-2 network, faced a weekend slowdown caused by a configuration error in a recent transaction-propagation change. While users reported elevated drops and longer waits for on-chain inclusion, blocks continued to be produced and the network did not experience a full outage. In a Wednesday post on X, Base explained that the modification to how transactions were propagated caused the block builder to repeatedly fetch transactions that could not be executed as base fees rose rapidly. The team rolled back the change and said stability has been restored, while outlining plans for longer-term fixes to harden the system against similar hiccups.

Key takeaways

  • The incident stemmed from a propagation-change that triggered repeated fetches of non-executable transactions as base fees climbed, prompting a rollback to restore stability.
  • Despite the hiccup, the network remained operational and continued producing blocks, indicating resilience even as throughput slowed.
  • Longer-term fixes are targeted at the transaction pipeline, overhead reduction, mempool handling, and enhanced rollout monitoring, with an estimated one-month timeline.
  • Base is the leading Ethereum layer-2 by TVL, holding about $4.2 billion and roughly 47.6% of the Ethereum L2 market, according to DefiLlama data on a recent Wednesday.
  • Arbitrum (CRYPTO: ARB) sits in second place with about 27% of the L2 market, while other networks remain in single-digit shares.
  • The episode underscores Base’s central role in Coinbase’s broader “super-app” strategy, integrating stablecoins and on-chain utilities into an expanding suite of products beyond traditional trading.

Tickers mentioned: $ETH, $ARB

Sentiment: Neutral

Market context: The episode highlights ongoing scaling tensions in the Ethereum ecosystem as users migrate activity to layer-2 solutions. Base’s ascent to a majority share of Ethereum L2 TVL underscores the significance of reliability as decentralized finance, payments, and other on-chain use cases increasingly rely on L2 infrastructure. The incident comes amid a landscape where TVL concentration among leading L2s remains pronounced, making resilience and governance in rollout processes particularly important for market participants.

Why it matters

The event is a reminder that even the most sophisticated scaling stacks face operational risk as they push higher throughput and lower fees for users. For Base, the stakes are heightened by Coinbase’s strategy to turn the network into the backbone of an “everything exchange”—a platform that blends crypto trading with stocks, prediction markets and other financial services. By positioning Base as the on-chain distribution layer for Coinbase’s broader product suite, the company aims to accelerate adoption and embed on-chain rails across multiple product lines.

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From a technical perspective, the rollback demonstrates a fast-response mechanism in practice: a rollback to a safe configuration, followed by a commitment to strengthen the pipeline and monitoring. The plan to streamline the transaction pipeline, trim unnecessary overhead, optimize the mempool’s handling of pending transactions, and bolster monitoring during infrastructure rollouts indicates a shift from quick patch fixes toward more foundational resilience. The time horizon—a little over a month—reflects the emphasis on both rapid stabilization and longer-term reliability enhancements.

Market researchers and on-chain developers will be watching how these improvements translate into real-world throughput and user experience. Base’s leadership in TVL among Ethereum L2s—reported at about $4.2 billion and a 47.6% share on one recent update—highlights the impact of operational reliability on capital allocation across competing networks. Arbitrum trails at roughly 27% of the L2 market, illustrating a competitive dynamic where even small improvements in efficiency or uptime can influence flow and engagement on L2 ecosystems. The broader implication is that reliability, governance, and measurable performance gains become critical differentiators as users evaluate where to deploy capital and where to build new applications.

Crucially, the incident sits within Coinbase’s broader strategic framework. By strengthening Base and expanding its use cases—from stablecoins to real-world financial utilities—the company signals a long-term commitment to on-chain infrastructure as a foundation for diverse products. This approach is consistent with the trend of crypto platforms seeking to commoditize on-chain rails, enabling a wider array of services that extend beyond custody and trading. As the ecosystem evolves, the emphasis on robust, observable performance will be a key factor shaping developer and user confidence in Layer-2 networks as scalable, secure conduits for everyday financial activity.

What to watch next

  • Progress of the one-month improvement window: updates on the rollout, new monitoring dashboards, and any interim performance metrics.
  • Any subsequent status notices from Base on X or through official channels detailing stability metrics or new incidents.
  • Changes to the transaction pipeline and mempool handling, including benchmarks on throughput and latency during peak periods.
  • Definitive commentary from Coinbase and Base leadership about how the improvements may influence adoption of the “everything exchange” concept.

Sources & verification

  • Official Base status update on X describing the rollback and restored stability: https://x.com/buildonbase/status/2018845942884237816
  • DefiLlama data on Ethereum layer-2 TVL shares and Base’s market position: https://defillama.com/chains/ethereum
  • Arbitrum market share reference: https://cointelegraph.com/arbitrum-price-index

Base’s scaling hiccup and the road ahead

Base sits atop Ethereum (CRYPTO: ETH), and its rapid ascent as the leading Ethereum layer-2 has reframed how developers and users think about scaling, gas efficiency, and on-chain usability. In the latest episode, a propagation-change misstep briefly disrupted everyday activity, renewing focus on the fragility that can accompany swift deployments. The network’s ability to continue producing blocks, even as a backlog of transactions faced difficulty entering the mempool, underscored resilience—yet also exposed the delicate balance between speed and reliability that underpins Layer-2 ecosystems.

In a Wednesday update on X, Base explained that the root cause lay in how transaction propagation was implemented during a previous change. As base fees climbed, the block builder repeatedly fetched transactions that could not be executed, creating artificial pressure and delays. The corrective move—rolling back the change—appeared to restore stable operation, and engineers signaled that the episode had highlighted gaps to address in the near term. The planned fixes emphasize a broader redesign: a more streamlined transaction pipeline, reduced overhead, refined mempool logic, and heightened vigilance during infrastructure rollouts. The goal is not only to restore performance but to prevent recurrence as activity continues to migrate toward Layer-2 solutions.

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Techniques for measuring and maintaining throughput will be central as Base competes for dominance with other major Layer-2 networks. Arbitrum, for example, remains a formidable contender with a substantial share of the market, illustrating that users and developers weigh reliability, cost, and developer experience as they allocate liquidity across L2s. The competitive dynamic among networks—Base’s dominant position versus Arbitrum’s strong footing—suggests that even incremental improvements to uptime or transaction latency can yield meaningful shifts in on-chain activity and liquidity flows.

Beyond the technical fixes, Base’s role within Coinbase’s strategic framework is increasingly clear. The company has signaled a push toward an “everything exchange” model, a platform that blends crypto trading with traditional financial products and services. Stablecoins and on-chain payments are part of this vision, but the network’s future hinges on how seamlessly it can scale, support diverse product features, and maintain a high level of reliability for users and developers alike. As Base expands, it becomes a pillar in Coinbase’s broader ambition to normalize on-chain interactions across everyday financial use cases, reinforcing the importance of robust Layer-2 infrastructure in a rapidly evolving crypto landscape.

Risk & affiliate notice: Crypto assets are volatile and capital is at risk. This article may contain affiliate links. Read full disclosure

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Pepe Coin Price Prediction 2026: PEPE Rips 10% on ETF News, DOGE Whales Pile In, but Is Pepeto the Next 100x Meme Before the Binance Listing?

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Pepe Coin Price Prediction 2026: PEPE Rips 10% on ETF News, DOGE Whales Pile In, but Is Pepeto the Next 100x Meme Before the Binance Listing?

The Pepe Coin price prediction fires back to life after PEPE rallied 10% on April 17 as $39.78M in fresh derivatives capital and ETF speculation pulled the token off the lows, per CoinMarketCap.

The move tracked Canary Capital’s S-1 filing for the first U.S. listed spot PEPE ETF earlier this month. Dogecoin (DOGE) rode the same tape higher as large holders bought 330 million DOGE and pushed price toward $0.10.

Every Pepe Coin price prediction is now getting repriced around the ETF news, and projects with real tools and confirmed listings are the ones big money keeps chasing. Pepeto crossed $9.16M because the wallets inside know $1,000 at this price becomes $100,000 after the Binance listing.

Santiment data shows $39.78M in fresh capital entered PEPE derivatives on April 17, pushing the token up 10% with a positive funding rate of 0.0043% and controlled bullish leverage, per CoinMarketCap. Canary Capital filed an S-1 for the first spot PEPE ETF on April 8. Dogecoin whales bought 330 million DOGE the same week, driving DOGE back above $0.10 with $3.99M in short liquidations.

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The daily chart now flashes a confirmed breakout within a rising channel, targeting $0.0000055 on a clean close. The ETF news favors projects with real demand over tokens running on sentiment alone.

Pepe Coin Price Prediction Compared: PEPE, Dogecoin, and the Presale Opportunity Pepeto

Pepeto Builds the Tools Pepe Never Did So the ETF Rotation Flows Here

Pepe proved meme energy alone can mint $11 billion in value and turn $500 entries into millions. It also proved that without tools, every dollar eventually comes back down. Pepeto is building what Pepe never had, which is why $9.16M is already in and the Binance listing moves closer every day.

The contract scanner scores every position for risk before capital moves, catching traps and abnormal large holder activity so traders sidestep the damage that hits everyone else. The zero fee swap engine lets holders move tokens across networks at no cost, breaking the wall that shuts smaller traders out. Both tools carry a completed SolidProof audit and run live today.

The same creator who proved one token and one community can produce $11 billion cofounded Pepeto, with a Binance exchange veteran leading development. The last stage closed early, this stage fills while the market watches, the same pattern that preceded every presale to listing move that made early buyers rich.

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Pepe (PEPE) Price at $0.0000039 After 10% Rally on ETF Speculation

Pepe (PEPE) trades at $0.0000039 on April 17 per CoinMarketCap, sitting 87% below the $0.000028 all time high with a $1.5 billion cap.

The 10% rally arrived on $39.78M in derivatives inflows and Canary Capital’s S-1 for the first spot PEPE ETF. Support holds at $0.0000036 with resistance at $0.00000408 and $0.0000055 above.

DigitalCoinPrice projects PEPE between $0.0000057 and $0.0000072 for 2026, roughly 55% to 95% from here. That math still takes months, while presale to listing entries need one event to deliver multiples no meme coin recovery can match.

Dogecoin (DOGE) Price at $0.98 as Large Holders Buy 330M DOGE in a Week

Dogecoin (DOGE) trades at $0.98 on April 17 per CoinMarketCap, sitting 86% below its $0.7376 record. Large holders bought 330 million DOGE this week, pushing price above the key $0.10 resistance. Spot and derivatives volumes surged 62% and 56%.

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Without a supply cap, every rally faces inflation pressure, and DOGE needs a supercycle to deliver the multiples presale entries with confirmed listings ahead produce from a single event.

Conclusion

Pepe already proved meme coins mint millionaires, and the ETF rally ripping 10% out of the chart today just confirmed smart money still bets on this lane, but the biggest returns in crypto history never came from chasing a recovery already in motion. They came from catching presale pricing the candle before a confirmed listing printed, every single time.

PEPE has the ETF news and DOGE has the brand, but neither holds what Pepeto holds right now, and fresh capital keeps landing on the Pepeto site every hour as this round fills toward the listing window.

Buying Pepeto now at $0.0000001865 is how the wallets reading this setup correctly step into the 100x position every trader who waits one more day ends up paying listing price for.

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Click To Visit Pepeto Website To Enter The Presale

FAQs

What is the Pepe Coin price prediction for 2026 after the ETF speculation rally?

Pepe (PEPE) trades at $0.0000039 with analysts projecting $0.0000057 to $0.0000072 for 2026, roughly 55% to 95% upside. PEPE rallied 10% on April 17 as $39.78M in derivatives inflows and Canary Capital’s spot PEPE ETF S-1 filing fueled the move.

How does Pepeto compare to holding Dogecoin (DOGE) for a recovery?

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Pepeto at $0.0000001865 targets 100x from a confirmed Binance listing, SolidProof audit, and live exchange. The presale raised $9.16M with 182% APY, while DOGE at $0.98 needs a full supercycle to retake its $0.7376 record.


Disclaimer: This is a Press Release provided by a third party who is responsible for the content. Please conduct your own research before taking any action based on the content.

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Analysts Forecast $10 XRP Price Prediction Amid Trump-Iran Geopolitical Breakthrough as AlphaPepe AlphaSwap Tech Outpaces Legacy Asset Returns

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Analysts Forecast $10 XRP Price Prediction Amid Trump-Iran Geopolitical Breakthrough as AlphaPepe AlphaSwap Tech Outpaces Legacy Asset Returns

Trump confirmed the US is “very close” to a nuclear deal with Iran on April 16 as a 10-day ceasefire between Israel and Lebanon took effect and Pakistan mediated direct talks in Islamabad. Oil prices dropped on the de-escalation and risk assets surged across equities and crypto simultaneously. The XRP price prediction expanded immediately as analysts recalculated what a resolved Middle East conflict means for institutional flows. European Business Magazine projects $5 to $10 for XRP if the CLARITY Act passes into law, while 24/7 Wall Street notes $10 would place XRP’s market cap at $610 billion, roughly where Ethereum peaked in 2025. The geopolitical breakthrough reshapes the macro backdrop for every digital asset. But AlphaPepe does not need a peace deal to deliver. AlphaSwap is already live and outpacing legacy return profiles from Stage 13 at $0.01494 with over $890,000 raised across 7,700 wallets.

The $10 XRP Price Prediction and What the Iran Breakthrough Unlocks

The conflict has been the single largest macro headwind suppressing crypto since February 2026. Oil above $100 kept the Fed locked at 3.5%. XRP fell from $2.40 to $1.35 during the war months. A resolution changes the calculus at every level. Lower oil frees the Fed to signal cuts. Rate signals drive institutional capital back into risk assets. ETF inflows resume at scale.

Standard Chartered’s Kendrick projects $8 if the CLARITY Act passes and ETF inflows reach $10 billion. Zipmex places the 2030 range at $5 to $15 with $10 achievable if Ripple captures meaningful SWIFT settlement volume. A Coinbase and EY-Parthenon survey found 18% of institutional investors already hold XRP and 25% plan to add exposure in 2026. From $1.35 to $10 is a 640% return that requires peace, legislation, and institutional adoption scaling over 12 to 18 months. Legacy asset returns across BTC, ETH, and XRP all measure in single-digit multiples from current prices. That is meaningful wealth preservation. It is not the compressed asymmetry presale positioning offers.

AlphaSwap Tech Outpaces Legacy Returns Before Any of Those Catalysts Arrive

AlphaSwap does not need an Iran deal, a CLARITY Act vote, or ETF inflows to function. It is already live. A cross-chain AI DEX screening every contract for exploit patterns before execution, tracking whale flows across chains in real time, and generating trading fee revenue today. The technology operates in a category where AI now catches 92% of exploited vulnerabilities before human auditors flag them. AlphaPepe puts that capability directly at the retail level through an interface that works now, not after a diplomatic milestone.

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The developer behind AlphaSwap delivered 500 million transactions across Shibarium mainnet. A 10/10 BlockSAFU audit verified the contract with zero flags. Supply capped at 1 billion tokens. Instant delivery. Zero vesting. Stakers earning 85% APR while Q2 approaches. Tier 1 CEX debut follows.

Over $890,000 raised from 7,700 wallets. Stage 13 at $0.01494 with 100 new addresses arriving daily. A $2,500 entry secures 167,336 tokens. Analysts targeting $1.50 value that at $250,904. At $3.50 it crosses $585,676. Buyers at $2,000 or above can apply code ALPHA50 for a 50% bonus. XRP needs peace, legislation, and institutional scaling for 640%. AlphaPepe needs Q2 for a return that outpaces every legacy asset on the board.

Geopolitics Reshape Timelines. AlphaSwap Already Shipped.

The Trump-Iran breakthrough may accelerate the $10 XRP thesis or it may stall at the negotiation table. The presale at $0.01494 with $890,000 raised and a live AI DEX does not fluctuate with diplomatic headlines. Stage 13 is filling and the $1 million milestone approaches.

Click To Visit AlphaPepe Official Website To Enter The Presale

FAQs

Can XRP reach $10 after a Trump-Iran deal?
Analysts project $5 to $10 if CLARITY passes and macro conditions improve. A peace deal would lower oil, free the Fed, and accelerate institutional ETF inflows toward the $10 billion threshold XRP needs.

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How does AlphaSwap outpace legacy asset returns?
A live AI DEX at Stage 13 pricing of $0.01494 with analyst targets of $1.50 to $3.50 offers 100x to 234x versus single-digit multiples from BTC, ETH, and XRP at current levels.

How close is AlphaPepe to raising $1M?
Over $890,000 across 7,700 wallets at $0.01494. The $1 million mark is approaching with 100 new addresses entering daily.


Disclaimer: This is a Press Release provided by a third party who is responsible for the content. Please conduct your own research before taking any action based on the content.

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Solana futures open interest up 20% this week; price upside hinted

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Crypto Breaking News

Solana’s SOL token has rallied about 10% over the past five days, trading at a three‑week high as broader risk appetite improves following news of a ceasefire extension between the United States and Iran. Despite the price strength, SOL remains a relative laggard in 2026, with the token underperforming the wider crypto market year-to-date.

Derivative markets point to renewed interest in SOL. Aggregate SOL futures open interest rose to about $4.2 billion on Friday, up from roughly $3.5 billion at the start of the week. While higher open interest signals growing participation, the perpetual funding rate has hovered around 3% annually, suggesting that buyers are not yet fully convinced and that leverage demand remains moderate. In a neutral setting, funding rates typically sit higher—roughly 5% to 10% annually—so the current reading implies cautious optimism rather than robust bullish conviction.

As Solana’s price action unfolds, on-chain activity presents a mixed picture. Solana continues to lead in decentralized exchange (DEX) volume and total value locked (TVL), underscoring its ongoing utility and network robustness. Yet Solana’s DApp revenue has softened in recent months, currently averaging around $16 million per week. By comparison, Ethereum’s DApp revenue has hovered around $10 million weekly, with BNB Chain at roughly $4 million, suggesting broader cooling in on-chain monetization across major ecosystems even as the Solana ecosystem remains an outsize DEX and TVL actor.

Key takeaways

  • Solana remains dominant in DEX volume and TVL, even as SOL underperforms the broader crypto market in 2026.

  • SOL futures open interest rose to about $4.2 billion, indicating expanding participation, while the 3% annualized funding rate signals cautious conviction from bulls.

  • On-chain revenue trends show Solana’s DApp ecosystem still active but trending lower, with weekly DApp revenue near $16 million, versus higher activity on other chains.

  • A wave of memecoin activity contributed to demand for SOL futures, echoing a pattern seen in prior bullish cycles and potentially foreshadowing a renewed price push.

  • Analysts note that if memecoin enthusiasm persists and hedging pressure eases, SOL could revisit upside targets toward the $100 level, though macro catalysts and funding dynamics will shape the path there.

Solana’s market position amid price discord

Despite SOL’s 2026 price gap relative to some peers, Solana’s core strengths remain intact. The network continues to attract substantial DEX activity and holds a commanding share of TVL, reinforcing its role as a leading layer-1 for on-chain trading and liquidity provisioning. This structural advantage matters for traders and builders who rely on Solana’s low-latency design and ambitious wallet integration to power a broad spectrum of DeFi and Web3 apps.

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Nevertheless, the broader price action tells a different story. SOL has lagged the wider market this year, suggesting that speculative drivers have cooled and that upside risk hinges on fresh catalysts beyond the continuation of positive on-chain fundamentals. For investors, the divergence between network dominance and price performance underscores a nuanced risk-reward dynamic: the chain’s intrinsic activity remains robust, but market enthusiasm requires new leverage‑driving momentum.

Derivatives backdrop: liquidity, leverage, and what to watch

The jump in open interest to $4.2 billion indicates growing participation from both institutional and retail traders interested in SOL’s volatility and spread efficiency. However, the persistent 3% annualized funding rate points to a market that is not fully pricing in a strong directional move. In calmer funding environments, sustained positive funding rates reflect ongoing demand for long positions; a reversion toward higher rates could accompany a renewed push higher in SOL, while a drop or negative rate would signal mounting short interest and potential downside pressure.

Traders will want to monitor whether the funding dynamic shifts as macro headlines evolve. A shift toward higher funding rates could accompany a more confident bull case, whereas persistent lower rates might imply a tighter range or consolidation phase. In this sense, perpetual futures markets offer a live read on market sentiment, even as they do not guarantee a specific price path.

Memecoin momentum and the DApp revenue narrative

Beyond the technical and macro layers, meme-driven demand has a notable footprint on SOL sentiment. A cluster of memecoins surged 40% or more over a short window, contributing to higher futures activity and capturing speculative interest around Solana. This pattern echoes earlier cycles where Solana benefited from surging user activity and social hype linked to memecoins, including iterations tied to high-profile tokens. While memecoins can catalyze short-term gains, they also introduce volatility that traders must manage carefully.

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At the same time, Solana’s ongoing commitments—robust validator security, a smooth user experience through Web3 wallets, and continued DEX leadership—provide a foundational tailwind for sustained activity. The ecosystem’s ability to translate on-chain traffic into real-use cases will be critical if momentum from memecoins wanes and investors seek more durable value drivers.

Where next for SOL? Risks, rewards, and the watchpoints

The potential for a renewed move toward the $100 level exists in a confluence of favorable conditions: easing geopolitical risk reducing macro risk aversion, a continued uptick in memecoin-driven demand, and a pickup in leveraged exposure if funding signals shift higher. Yet several caveats remain. The broader crypto market’s appetite for DApps and on-chain revenue remains a key variable; if user activity cools further or if competing ecosystems regain traction, SOL’s upside could be constrained despite favorable derivatives signals.

What to watch next includes the trajectory of SOL’s funding rate and open interest, any shifts in DApp monetization trends, and how memecoin liquidity evolves in the near term. Macro headlines—ranging from commodity price shifts to regulatory developments—could also tilt momentum in surprising ways, given Solana’s sensitivity to risk sentiment and liquidity conditions.

As investors weigh the signals, the path to a meaningful upside will likely hinge on a combination of renewed DEX and TVL strength, a sustained pickup in on-chain activity, and a favorable macro backdrop that encourages broader leverage in SOL futures. Until then, volatility remains a defining feature of SOL’s trading narrative.

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Readers should monitor how open interest evolves and whether the funding rate firms up or ebbs with changing sentiment, as these reads often precede more tangible price moves. The next few weeks will be telling for whether Solana can reconcile its network momentum with a fresh cycle of price appreciation.

Risk & affiliate notice: Crypto assets are volatile and capital is at risk. This article may contain affiliate links. Read full disclosure

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Kelp DAO hit for $292 million exploit with wrapped ether stranded across 20 chains

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Kelp DAO hit for $292 million exploit with wrapped ether stranded across 20 chains

A cross-chain bridge holding nearly a fifth of a restaked ether token’s circulating supply just got drained, and the fallout is moving through DeFi faster than Kelp DAO can pause contracts.

An attacker drained 116,500 rsETH (restaked ether) from Kelp DAO’s LayerZero-powered bridge at 17:35 UTC on Saturday, worth roughly $292 million at current prices and representing about 18% of rsETH’s 630,000 token circulating supply tracked by CoinGecko.

LayerZero is a cross-chain messaging layer, or the infrastructure that lets different blockchains send verified instructions to each other. Kelp DAO is a liquid restaking protocol, which takes user-deposited ETH, routes it through EigenLayer to earn additional yield on top of standard Ethereum staking rewards, and issues rsETH as a tradeable receipt.

The bridge that was drained held the rsETH reserve backing wrapped versions of the token deployed on more than 20 other blockchains.

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The attacker tricked LayerZero’s cross-chain messaging layer into believing a valid instruction had arrived from another network, which triggered Kelp’s bridge to release 116,500 rsETH to an attacker-controlled address.

Kelp’s emergency pauser multisig froze the protocol’s core contracts 46 minutes after the successful drain, at 18:21 UTC. Two follow-up attempts at 18:26 UTC and 18:28 UTC both reverted, each carrying the same LayerZero packet attempting another 40,000 rsETH drain worth roughly $100 million.

rsETH is deployed across more than 20 networks including Base, Arbitrum, Linea, Blast, Mantle and Scroll, with LayerZero’s OFT standard handling the cross-chain movement.

The rsETH held in the bridge was the reserve backing wrapped versions on every layer 2 blockchain, or networks that run atop Ethereum.

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With that reserve drained, holders on non-Ethereum deployments now face the question of whether their tokens have anything underneath them, which creates a feedback loop where panic redemptions on L2s pressure the unaffected Ethereum supply, potentially forcing Kelp to unwind restaking positions to honor withdrawals.

The contagion list is long and still growing.

Aave froze rsETH markets on V3 and V4 within hours, with founder Stani Kulechov affirming the exploit was external and Aave’s contracts were not compromised. SparkLend and Fluid froze their rsETH markets.

AAVE fell about 10% as the market priced potential bad debt.

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Kelp, a product under the KernelDAO umbrella, acknowledged the incident in its first public X post at 20:10 UTC, nearly three hours after the drain. The protocol said it was investigating with LayerZero, Unichain, its auditors and outside security specialists. It has not disclosed how the exploit bypassed the bridge’s validation logic.

Whether rsETH holds peg through the weekend depends on how much of the cross-chain float tries to redeem into ETH on Ethereum and whether Kelp can recover any portion of the stolen funds before the Tornado Cash trail goes cold.

The hack lands in an unusually hostile stretch for DeFi. Solana-based perpetuals protocol Drift was drained of about $285 million on April 1 in an attack later linked to North Korea-affiliated actors, and at least a dozen smaller protocols have been exploited in the weeks since, including CoW Swap, Zerion, Rhea Finance and Silo Finance.

Kelp’s $292 million loss is now the largest DeFi exploit of 2026, overtaking Drift by a few million dollars.

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Bitcoin Mining Difficulty Falls Slightly in Latest Adjustment

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Mining, Bitcoin Mining, Mining Pools, Home Mining

The Bitcoin (BTC) mining difficulty, the relative challenge of adding new blocks to the BTC blockchain, fell on Saturday, amid public mining companies selling record amounts of BTC to cover operating expenses.

The Bitcoin mining difficulty fell to about 135.5 T, a modest decrease of about 1.1% over the last 24 hours, according to data from CoinWarz. Mining difficulty is also projected to increase in the next adjustment period. CoinWarz said:

“The next Bitcoin difficulty adjustment is estimated to take place on May 01, 2026, 01:24:54 PM UTC, increasing the Bitcoin mining difficulty from 135.59 T to 137.43 T, which will take place in 1,865 blocks, about 12 days, 18 hours, and 41 minutes from now.”

Mining, Bitcoin Mining, Mining Pools, Home Mining
Bitcoin mining difficulty between 2014 and 2026. Source: CoinWarz

Bitcoin miners have faced mounting challenges over the past year, as reduced block rewards, rising energy prices, a crypto bear market and geopolitical shocks create economic headwinds for miners. 

Related: Solo Bitcoin miner bags $210K Bitcoin block reward

Public mining companies sell record amounts of BTC

Publicly traded Bitcoin mining companies sold more BTC in Q1 2026 than all four quarters of 2025 combined, according to TheEnergyMag.

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Mining companies MARA, CleanSpark, Riot, Cango, Core Scientific and Bitdeer, sold more than 32,000 BTC in total during Q1 2026, TheEnergyMag said.

The combined sales surpassed the 20,000 BTC sold in Q2 2022, the same quarter as the collapse of the Terra-Luna ecosystem, which plunged crypto into an extended bear market.

Miners periodically sell their BTC to cover operating expenses, which are denominated in fiat currency.

However, as the cost of mining a single BTC increases past spot market prices, many BTC mining companies are now treading water.

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Mining, Bitcoin Mining, Mining Pools, Home Mining
Mining companies’ cost of mining a single BTC. Source: TheEnergyMag

Up to 20% of Bitcoin miners are unprofitable under current economic conditions, according to asset manager CoinShares’ Q1 2026 mining report.

“Q4 2025 marked the most challenging quarter for Bitcoin miners since the April 2024 halving,” the CoinShares report said.

The authors cited the “sharp” BTC correction in October 2025, which slashed BTC’s price from a high of about $125,000 to about $86,000 by December 2025, and the rising computational difficulty of adding blocks as headwinds for the mining industry.

Magazine: 7 reasons why Bitcoin mining is a terrible business idea