Aave Founder: DeFi United Proposal Jointly Requests Arbitrum to Release Frozen Funds
Stani Kulechov, founder and CEO of Aave, stated that the DeFi United recovery plan is progressing. He has submitted a governance proposal to the Arbitrum DAO in collaboration with multiple stakeholders including Ether.fi, KelpDAO, LayerZero, and Compound, requesting the release of ETH funds frozen by the security council.
If these recovered funds are released, they will be injected into DeFi United to restore rsETH backing and compensate for user losses caused by the $292 million attack on KelpDAO on April 18. The proposal is currently open for community review.
Source: Public Information
ABAB AI Insight
This proposal highlights the coordination capabilities of DeFi in systemic events. The KelpDAO cross-chain bridge attack led to rsETH being under-collateralized, putting multiple protocols like Aave at risk of bad debt. DeFi United is responding quickly through a cross-protocol fund pool, attempting to achieve user compensation on-chain. This mechanism tests the execution efficiency of decentralized governance under crisis, while transforming frozen assets from a temporary safety measure into an active recovery tool.
Structurally, it reflects the evolution of risk-sharing and capital reallocation in DeFi. Vulnerabilities in a single protocol are absorbed through multi-party collaboration, avoiding chain liquidations that amplify losses and setting a precedent for cooperation in future similar events. This collaboration enhances ecosystem resilience and may accelerate capital concentration towards leading protocols with strong coordination capabilities, further impacting the distribution of pricing power in industry migration.
In the long term, such events mark a transition point for DeFi from early experimentation to mature financial infrastructure. The decision to release frozen funds by Arbitrum will affect the community's trust balance regarding governance neutrality and user protection, ultimately driving institutional optimization in incentives, insurance design, and cross-chain security across the entire ecosystem.