Kelp Reopens rsETH Withdrawals as Kraken Moves Wrapped Assets to Chainlink CCIP

TLDR

• Kelp DAO reopened rsETH withdrawals, with bridging and claims now active.
• rsETH exchange rates are set to update on May 15 to include paused staking rewards.
• Aave and Kelp will send remaining rsETH tranches over two weeks to refill the lockbox.
• Kraken is migrating kBTC and future wrapped assets to Chainlink CCIP.
• Kraken said kBTC users do not need to take action during the cross-chain migration.

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Kelp DAO has reopened rsETH withdrawals as part of its coordinated restart plan, while Kraken separately announced that it will move its wrapped asset infrastructure to Chainlink’s Cross Chain Interoperability Protocol.

Kelp said rsETH withdrawals are now live, with bridging and claims also active. The update follows the earlier transfer of the first tranche of rsETH by Aave into the LayerZero OFT Adapter, which allowed bridging to resume between mainnet and supported layer-2 networks.

The restart plan is tied to recovery work after the April Kelp DAO exploit, which affected rsETH and placed cross-chain asset security back under close review across decentralized finance. Kelp said users can now move rsETH in and out of layer-2 networks from mainnet, while deposits are expected to reopen after a short stabilization period.

The protocol also said exchange rates will be updated around 4:30 p.m. CET on May 15, along with eigen claims. The update is expected to account for staking rewards that accumulated for rsETH holders during the pause period.

Kelp Restarts rsETH Withdrawals and Claims

Kelp said remaining rsETH tranches will be sent over the next two weeks by Aave and Kelp to fully refill the lockbox. The protocol said rsETH remains fully backed across mainnet and layer-2 networks.

The recovery plan has moved in phases. Bridging resumed after Aave transferred the first tranche into the LayerZero OFT Adapter. Withdrawals then reopened, followed by claims and the scheduled exchange-rate update.

The reopening of withdrawals gives rsETH holders access to assets that had been paused during recovery work. Kelp has said deposits will reopen after the system has had time to stabilize.

Lido also said the unpausing of its earnETH vault depends on the rsETH exchange-rate update. According to Lido, the rate update will credit staking rewards built up during the pause period to rsETH holders.

The coordinated restart places several moving parts on the same timeline, including bridging, withdrawals, claims, exchange rates, deposits and vault dependencies. Kelp’s latest update indicates that the protocol is moving from emergency controls toward normal user operations.

Kraken Replaces LayerZero With Chainlink CCIP

Kraken announced a separate infrastructure change, saying it is deprecating its existing cross-chain provider and migrating to Chainlink CCIP as the exclusive cross-chain infrastructure for Kraken Wrapped Bitcoin and future Kraken Wrapped Assets.

The migration covers kBTC and is expected to support wrapped asset movement across Ink, Ethereum, Unichain and Optimism, with more chains expected later. Kraken said kBTC customers do not need to take any action and that more migration details will come through official Kraken channels.

Kraken launched kBTC as a wrapped Bitcoin product backed 1:1 by native Bitcoin held at Kraken Financial, its Wyoming-chartered special purpose depository institution. The product is designed to bring Bitcoin liquidity into DeFi for collateral, trading and settlement use cases.

Chainlink CCIP will support Kraken Wrapped Assets through Chainlink’s Cross Chain Token standard. The infrastructure includes independent node operators, native rate limits and risk controls intended to reduce bridge-related failure risk.

Kraken said it selected Chainlink CCIP because of enterprise-grade infrastructure and security design. Chainlink Labs Chief Business Officer Johann Eid said Kraken’s move aligns with CCIP’s focus on cross-chain asset security and institutional-grade controls.

Cross-Chain Security Remains in Focus

The Kelp restart and Kraken migration both come as cross-chain infrastructure remains one of the most closely watched areas in crypto security.

Bridge and wrapped asset systems handle large pools of value across multiple networks. Past failures have shown that weaknesses in messaging, custody, rate limits or contract controls can expose users and protocols to losses.

The $292 million Kelp DAO exploit in April increased attention on cross-chain security and recovery systems. Since then, several protocols have moved toward Chainlink CCIP or reviewed their existing bridge frameworks.

Kraken’s decision adds another large platform to Chainlink’s interoperability stack, while Kelp’s phased restart shows how DeFi protocols are handling recovery after asset disruption.

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