The Kelp

LayerZero's single-verifier setup did not just cost Kelp DAO $292 million. It accelerated the split between open DeFi infrastructure and the permissioned rails that institutional capital will actually use.

A $3 billion bridge migration on May 14 signals that institutional crypto infrastructure is consolidating around auditable security, and LayerZero is on the wrong side of that bet.

A $292 million exploit and a public apology reveal that the infrastructure carrying tokenized assets between blockchains has a process problem, not just a hacker problem.