DEX

Kelp DAO reported a $292 million loss on April 18, 2026, after attackers siphoned 116,500 rsETH through a vulnerability tied to its LayerZero-based cross-chain bridge. The exploiter then used 89,567 rsETH as Aave collateral to borrow $190.86 million in wrapped Ether before markets repriced the asset. Aave later saw $8.45B in deposit outflows over the next 48 hours, alongside more than $13B leaving DeFi.

After the May 17 exploit of the Verus-Ethereum bridge, the attacker returned $8.5 million to the Verus team while keeping $2.8 million as a white-hat bounty. The project had offered a 1,350 ETH reward if 4,052 ETH was sent back within 24 hours, alongside a pledge to halt investigations if the terms were met.

Polymarket was targeted on May 22 in an incident tied to its rewards payout system, with more than $700K in USDC and POL reportedly drained. The compromise appears linked to a private key, while the team said user funds and market resolution were not affected as it rotates backend keys and continues investigating.

Decentralized finance (DeFi) leader Hyperliquid (HYPE) is continuing its impressive upward trajectory, maintaining a strong position even as major cryptocurrencies face a period of stagnation. As of Friday, May 22, 2026, HYPE is trading at $58.01, showing a 3.64% gain over the past 24 hours.

Jito (JTO) rose more than 30% in a single day after quarterly figures highlighted higher staking activity, more validators, and a supply burn. The update cited 418 million SOL in cumulative Jito-enabled staked tokens, 119 million SOL staked on the Jito Network, and 9.7 million JTO burned in Q1, while daily volume jumped 605% to $168 million. Technically, JTO retested $0.35 as support after reaching $0.70, with bulls still defending the level.

A CoinGecko report says leveraged crypto trading has been shifting toward perpetual DEXs, which increased their share of trading volume and open interest through 2025. The perp DEX-to-CEX volume ratio rose from 3% in January 2025 to a 13% peak later in 2025, then eased to about 10% by April 2026, while Hyperliquid recorded roughly $190.28bn in April volume.

Hyperliquid has overtaken Solana on fully diluted valuation at $56 billion versus $50 billion, alongside a sharp divergence in token performance. HYPE traded at $58.60, up 20% in 24 hours, while SOL rose 2.20% over the same session. Separately, 7-day protocol fees also flipped at $12.6 million for Hyperliquid versus $11.8 million for Solana.

TRM Labs data published in May 2026 says North Korea was linked to $577 million of the $651 million lost to crypto hacks in January–April 2026, or 76% of the total. The losses were concentrated in two April incidents attributed to Lazarus subgroup TraderTraitor: $285 million from Drift Protocol on April 1 and $292 million from Kelp DAO on April 18–19.

On May 21, SpaceX's pre-IPO filing disclosed 18,712 BTC valued at $1.45 billion, as Hyperliquid's fully diluted valuation climbed to $54 billion and its HYPE token rose 20%. Separately, South Korean funeral firm Bumo Sarang reportedly lost $33 million in customer prepaid funds after a 2x leveraged bet on the BitMine ETF turned against it.

Hyperliquid (HYPE) traded at $48.53 after a 0.95% 24-hour gain, while trading volume slid 21.21% to $566 million as price hovered near the $50 reversal area. Whale activity split between accumulation and bearish hedges, and May 2026 DeFi metrics showed TVL rising from $4.279 billion to $5.16 billion alongside DEX volume growth.