Aave said it has frozen rsETH markets on Aave V3 and Aave V4 after identifying a bridging vulnerability tied to Kelp DAO's rsETH, preventing new deposits and borrowing with rsETH as collateral while it reviews the situation. Aave added that if bad debt occurs, Umbrella assets will be used to cover any shortfall.

Aave has frozen the rsETH markets on Aave V3 and Aave V4 following an exploit involving the Kelp DAO rsETH bridge. Aave said its own smart contracts were not exploited and described the issue as specific to rsETH. The freeze halts new rsETH deposits and prevents borrowing against rsETH collateral while the situation is assessed. Aave is reviewing rsETH borrowing activity on the protocol that occurred after the exploit and said it will provide further updates as soon as possible. If the incident results in bad debt for the protocol, Aave noted that Umbrella assets could be used to cover the shortfall.

Rhea Finance, a lending protocol in the NEAR ecosystem, has reported an estimated $18.4 million loss following an exploit tied to a flaw in its margin trading functionality. The attacker is believed to have abused the protocol's slippage protection mechanism by crafting fake liquidity pools and engineered swap routes. This setup enabled the opening of numerous margin positions and ultimately drained liquidity from the protocol's main pool. Rhea Finance said the latest figure is materially above earlier estimates of about $7.6 million. In a postmortem, the team said borrowed debt tokens were routed into attacker-controlled pools, while the protocol received only a negligible amount of position tokens in return. The resulting imbalance left many positions undercollateralized, triggering liquidations across the system. Rhea Finance said these forced liquidations depleted the reserve pool and produced "realized losses" affecting both the protocol and users. Rhea Finance said it is assessing available resources to pursue recovery for impacted users. The incident has renewed scrutiny of DeFi safeguards such as slippage protection, with security and audit teams reviewing similar mechanisms across other protocols. Liquidity providers in affected pools have taken losses, and the protocol's native token, RHEA, has declined following the exploit. The exploit follows other high-profile DeFi incidents, including a reported breach at Drift Protocol that was linked to $280 million in losses.

Kelp DAO's rsETH bridge was reportedly exploited in an attack described as LayerZero-based, with losses estimated at roughly $292 million.

Bank of America ($BAC) reported first-quarter net income of $8.6 billion, up 17% from a year earlier, as earnings per share came in at $1.11, beating the $1.01 consensus estimate and marking the bank's highest EPS in nearly two decades. Revenue rose 7.2% to $30.43 billion, ahead of the $29.93 billion estimate, supported by higher net interest income, stronger trading results, and improved investment banking fees. Equities trading revenue surged 30% to $2.83 billion, delivering the bank's best trading quarter in 15 years. Investment banking revenue climbed 21% to $1.8 billion. Net interest income increased 9% to $15.9 billion. CEO Brian Moynihan said the bank generated 290 basis points of operating leverage, helping lift returns on equity and assets. The results follow strong Q1 reports from @JPMorgan, which posted a 13% profit increase, and @GoldmanSachs, up 19%, reinforcing optimism about U.S. corporate fundamentals despite ongoing geopolitical headwinds.

The Wall Street Journal reported that the United States is preparing to board oil tankers linked to Iran and seize commercial vessels in international waters.

Digital asset markets started 2026 under heavy pressure as capital pulled back sharply in the first weeks of the year, adding to fears that a prolonged downturn is taking hold. CoinGecko data shows the selloff accelerated early in the quarter, driving one of the steepest drops in market value since 2022. Total cryptocurrency market capitalization fell 20.4% in Q1 2026, ending near $2.4 trillion after roughly $622 billion was erased. The market now sits almost 45% below its October 2025 peak. The bulk of the decline came between mid-January and early February, when macro expectations shifted after Kevin Warsh was nominated as the next Federal Reserve Chair. Investors began pricing in tighter monetary conditions, typically a headwind for high-risk assets such as crypto. Positioning also turned more defensive. Stablecoins captured part of the rotation, with total stablecoin market capitalization rising by $1.6 billion to $309.9 billion, pointing to a stronger preference for liquidity and stability. Signals within stablecoins were mixed. Tether supply fell 1.6% to $184.1 billion, its first meaningful contraction since Q2 2022, while it still held a dominant 59% share of the stablecoin market. Trading patterns across major networks echoed the caution. Solana remained the top venue for spot trading with a 30.6% share, even as its volume slid 26.5%. Ethereum strengthened into quarter-end and overtook Solana in March, taking a 27% share versus Solana's 26%. The Q1 $622 billion drawdown reinforces the "crypto winter" narrative. Even so, flows suggest capital is rotating within the ecosystem rather than exiting entirely, as investors prioritize risk control and liquidity amid tighter financial conditions.

BREAKING: Donald Trump commented on reports that Iran has again closed the Strait of Hormuz, saying "Iran can't blackmail us" with threats tied to the waterway. He added that more information should be available by the end of the day.