Mantle, a modular layer 2 blockchain on Ethereum with deep ties to Bybit, has proposed to deploy up to 30,000 ETH from its treasury as a credit facility to Aave DAO in response to losses caused by an exploit targeting Kelp DAO’s rsETH bridge.

Following this week's rsETH incident involving @KelpDAO and @LayerZero_Core, a proposal has been put forward for Mantle to contribute a loan facility to @aave's coordinated relief effort.

The loan would form part of a wider coordinated framework, structured to minimize…

— Mantle (@Mantle_Official) April 24, 2026

The loan would be strictly allocated to covering the shortfall on Aave V3, with Mantle seeking to convert idle treasury capital into a yield-generating position while supporting recovery efforts.

Aave reported on Monday that the Kelp DAO attack allowed attackers to mint unbacked tokens by exploiting a single-verifier configuration in LayerZero.

These tokens were deposited into Aave as collateral, enabling the extraction of approximately $190 million in real assets. Although Aave’s infrastructure functioned as intended, the incident introduced huge potential bad debt.

According to Aave, if losses are socialized across all rsETH holders, the total bad debt is estimated at approximately $124 million, mostly absorbed by the Ethereum Core markets. In a more severe scenario where losses are isolated to layer 2, bad debt could exceed $230 million and leave a heavy impact on networks like Mantle and Arbitrum.

Under Mantle’s proposed terms, the loan would carry an interest rate of around Lido yield plus 1%, with a maturity of up to 36 months and optional early repayment. Risk mitigation measures include collateral held in a multisig wallet, additional backing from Aave protocol revenue and tokens, default protections, and governance participation through delegated AAVE tokens.

DeFi unites behind Aave

A growing coalition of DeFi projects has mobilized to support Aave DAO following the April 18 exploit, which stands as the largest DeFi hack of 2026 and one of the biggest on record.

Golem Foundation and Golem Factory announced they have contributed a combined 1,000 ETH from their treasuries to the coordinated relief effort, saying their teams have been working closely with Aave in a supporting capacity. The funds will go toward restoring rsETH backing and enabling an orderly resolution for affected stakeholders.

Aave CEO Stani Kulechov has personally committed 5,000 ETH to DeFi United as the effort continues to formalize additional pledges. The Ink Foundation has also confirmed its participation in the coordinated response.

Frax, an Aave V4 partner, said it is in direct communication with Aave to support stabilization efforts despite having no direct exposure to the incident.

“We will work together in positive sum with DeFi United to bring stability to Aave markets and the greater DeFi ecosystem,” the team said.

LayerZero, whose bridge infrastructure was at the center of the exploit, said its proposed contribution would go toward the best path forward for restoring rsETH backing, adding that it has been closely coordinating with Aave, EtherFi, Ethena, Arbitrum, and Kelp throughout the process.

Ethena, EtherFi Foundation, and Lido are also among the names involved in the industry-wide relief effort.