$SPKthe native governance asset of the Spark protocol, rose 1.21% during US market hours on Tuesday and is currently trading at $0.027. The buying pressure followed a capital rotation into leading protocol Sparklend, as its main competitor AAVE got caught up in the recent Kelp DAO rsETH exploit. The price gains offer a major breakout from the key resistance level, signaling an opportunity for potential near-term recovery.
Sparklend Wins $1.4 Billion as Kelp DAO Hack Shakes DeFi Markets
On April 18, 2026, Kelp DAO was exploited in a devastating $293 million attack, the largest DeFi hack of the year. The attacker manipulated a vulnerability in the protocol’s LayerZero bridge, which relied on a flawed single-verifier configuration. The hacker created 116,500 unbacked rsETH (18 percent of the total supply) by spoofing cross-chain messages and sharing these fake coins with more than 20 different networks.
The collapse immediately froze Aave. While the core contracts were protected, the protocol’s acceptance of rsETH as collateral was a critical flaw. The attacker took advantage of the useless rsETH to borrow about $236 million in high-value assets like WETH, leaving Aave in almost the same position with almost 196 million in bad debt. This led to a massive liquidity crisis; panicked users withdrew more than $5.4 billion, pushing ETH usage to 100% and effectively sending the remaining funds into a “liquidity crisis.”
This volatility led to a major exodus of capital to protocols that were considered more robust, a flight to quality. The main beneficiary of this shift was Sparklend. While Aave had to freeze its markets to test its Umbrella security module, Sparklend had recorded unprecedented net deposits and credit growth of $1.4 billion and $350 million respectively in the space of 48 hours. According to the data, the influx of April 18 and 20 is by far the largest in all of 2026.
Sparklend’s success was due to its proactive risk management. Spark shut down rsETH and other low-liquidity assets back in January 2026 and had no exposure to the counterfeit tokens. This allowed the company to continue to function fully, while competitors were hampered by contamination. The massive flow of USDS and DAI is a testament to the fact that investors viewed Sparklend as a safe haven, effectively taking up a large chunk of liquidity and leaving the market in panic.
Spark Price provides a decisive breakthrough after four months of consolidation
After a significant correction in 2025, Spark price shifted its trajectory sideways above the $0.019 support. For more than four months, the $SPK The price remains within a narrow range between the horizontal level of $0.026 and $0.018.
This consolidation acted as an accumulation zone for $SPK buyers, evidenced by an upward slope of the momentum indicator RSI. The building bullish momentum saw the price recover from the above, despite the geopolitical tensions in the Middle East.
Furthermore, the Kelp DAO rsETH exploit acted as a trigger for capital rotation to the Spark price, delivering a decisive breakout from range resistance on April 20. If the breakout continues, Spark price could stage a 25% rally to $0.034, followed by a jump to $0.046.