ETH Developer Warns: Ethereum Needs Validity Proofs to Stay Competitive

Ethereum Foundation developer and researcher Barnabé Monnot indicates that the latest crypto hacks highlight a larger goal for Ethereum as well as many crypto assets.

Over the weekend, the crypto market woke up to news regarding the exploit of the KelpDAO protocol. A $293 million exploit of Kelp’s bridge allowed attackers to use stolen rsETH, a liquid restaking token widely used in DeFi, as collateral to borrow funds on lending platforms, sparking concerns from the broader crypto market.

The attacker stole about 116,500 rsETH, a token issued by Kelp DAO that represents “restaked” Ethereum by targeting a bridge built using LayerZero, a system that allows different blockchains to communicate. The total losses are estimated at roughly $293 million, making it the largest DeFi exploit of 2026.

The attack affected cross-chain infrastructure, restaking models and lending markets at the same time and follows a string of recent incidents.

The hack occurred in an unusually hostile stretch for DeFi — particularly this month. Solana-based perpetuals protocol Drift was drained of about $285 million in an April 1 attack, and at least a dozen smaller protocols have been exploited in the weeks since, including CoW Swap, Zerion, Rhea Finance and Silo Finance.

Hack highlights larger goal for Ethereum

In a recent tweet, Ethereum Foundation developer and researcher Barnabé Monnot states that the recent hacks serve as a reminder not only for Ethereum but for other crypto assets on the major goal ahead. He highlighted that the goal should be to make Ethereum not only the transport layer but also the issuer-of-record.

Monnot noted that validity proofs and fast finality are essential to remove latency across the board and compete with faster alternatives, with Ethereum making steady progress toward this vision.

In the past year, Ethereum announced a renewed focus on three strategic initiatives: scale L1, scale blobs and improve UX.

Faster confirmation times are consistently cited as among the biggest requirements for better interoperability across the Ethereum ecosystem. The current aim is to focus on clear, measurable protocol metrics to drive down latency and cost, while increasing security and trustlessness.