The DeFi sector is witnessing one of its worst periods since the 2022 crash. The KelpDAO attack, one of the most talked-about topics in recent days, resulted in a loss of $290 million. However, the losses were not limited to this, leading to a total outflow of $7 billion across the top 20 chains in just 24 hours.
As the cryptocurrency sector reacts to the KelpDAO attack, Arbitrum (ARB) announced that it has urgently frozen 30,766 Ethereum, worth approximately $70 million, associated with the KelpDAO vulnerability.
Now, there’s a new development regarding these $ETH tokens. According to reports, a US-based law firm has filed a lawsuit to prevent the transfer and recover $ETH tokens, worth over $70 million, that were frozen by Arbitrum following the Kelp DAO attack.
Charlie Gerstein, a lawyer at the US law firm Gerstein Harrow LLP, announced in a post on the Arbitrum DAO forum that he had obtained a preliminary injunction from a New York court prohibiting Arbitrum from transferring Ethereum frozen following the KelpDAO attack.
Gerstein Harrow claims that his clients have been successful in three separate lawsuits against North Korea over past cyberattacks and are ultimately entitled to more than $877 million in damages.
Harrow argues that her clients are entitled to compensation for the frozen ETHs and that these ETHs should be released to them.
Kelp DAO suffered a $292 million attack in mid-April, after which the Arbitrum Security Council froze 30,766 $ETH at an address linked to the attacker. On April 25th, Aave Labs proposed that Arbitrum DAO lift the freeze on the $ETH linked to the Kelp DAO attack and redirect these funds to its “DeFi United” fund, aiming to convert them to rsETH and compensate the owners. However, the ongoing lawsuit is expected to delay this recovery process.
The lawsuit sparked controversy. Some community members argue that the injunction is unfair, claiming it will delay fund reimbursements to users affected by the KelpDAO hack and divert funds to a different group of North Korean victims.
*This is not investment advice.