KelpDAO has sued LayerZero and its co-founder Bryan Pellegrino, blaming the universal bridge protocol for the largest exploit of 2026, which drained $292 million and triggered one of the largest DeFi runs in crypto history, according to a post on X on Thursday.
"The exploit was a direct result of LayerZero's failures, including a failure to disclose weaknesses and risks inherent in LayerZero's own technology," KelpDAO said. The decentralized liquid staking protocol on Ethereum also accused LayerZero of failing to prevent infiltration of its security infrastructure, which it claims allowed attackers to exploit alleged weaknesses in the bridge.
"Rather than take responsibility, over the last few months, LayerZero and Mr. Pellegrino publicly blamed us for their failures," KelpDAO said.
Pellegrino responded that the claim, filed as a notice of civil claim in British Columbia, Canada, is "meritless." "Evercrest (KelpDAO) filed a notice of civil claim today in BC against myself and LZ (LayerZero). The claim continues to be meritless. I will meet them in Vancouver and defend myself accordingly," he said.
