As concerns about the DeFi ecosystem grow following the KelpDAO-related rsETH crisis, Standard Chartered has also assessed the hack and its consequences.
Banking giant Standard Chartered said the DeFi ecosystem remains strong despite the KelpDAO attack.
According to The Block, Standard Chartered argues that despite the significant impact of the KelpDAO rsETH attack on the market, the DeFi ecosystem remains strong.
A report authored by Standard Chartered analyst Geoffrey Kendrick acknowledged that the $292 million rsETH attack on April 19th exposed structural risks in DeFi and led to withdrawals of approximately $17 billion from Aave within three days.
“However, despite all the negativity, a DeFi industry coalition led by Stani Kulechov later raised over $300 million for a collective response.”
Aave DAO has received public support from Arbitrum (ARB), Consensys, Joseph Lubin, Mantle (MNT) and Lido.”
Kendrick concluded that, rather than hindering DeFi’s growth, the hack could actually encourage its development by demonstrating the sector’s unity.
A Standard Chartered analyst recently stated that they expect the market capitalization of tokenized real-world assets (RWA) to reach $2 trillion by the end of 2028, up from $35 billion in October 2025, and that this forecast is contingent upon the continued growth of DeFi banking and stablecoin liquidity.
Therefore, the bank believes this crisis is significant beyond Aave or rsETH. In the bank’s view, the recent events do not refute this thesis, but rather put it to the toughest test and strengthen it.
*This is not investment advice.