Aave asks NY court to lift hold on 30,766 ETH transfer

Aave filed an emergency motion Monday in a U.S. district court in New York asking a judge to vacate a restraining notice that is preventing Arbitrum DAO from transferring 30,766 Ether to victims of the April 18, 2026 Kelp exploit.

The restraining notice was served on Arbitrum DAO on Friday by Gerstein Harrow LLP. The law firm says its clients hold more than $877 million in default judgments tied to North Korea and contends the North Korea-linked group behind the Kelp exploit had possession of the tokens. Arbitrum DAO has been voting on whether to release the Ether to support DeFi United’s effort to make rsETH holders whole after the $292 million Kelp DAO hack; the vote is scheduled to end May 7.

Aave’s filing argues that a thief does not gain lawful ownership by stealing assets and says the law firm’s theory that North Korea is the rightful owner rests on conjecture. The filing describes that theory as ‘defies logic, common sense and the law’ and states the immobilized Ether ‘do not belong to North Korea or any affiliated entities’ but instead belong to Aave users who were victimized in the April 18 exploit.

The filing warned the court that maintaining the restraint would cause ‘irreparable harm’ to the protocol, its users and the broader decentralized finance community. Aave said the freeze could prevent the Ether from being used to restore value for Aave users and could leave other users unable to meet collateral obligations if the frozen assets were backing positions elsewhere. The filing includes the text: ‘If the immobilized assets remain subject to a freeze and are not made available to restore value to Aave protocol users, the entire DeFi ecosystem risks being destabilized.’

Aave also argued that allowing the restraining notice to stand could deter future recovery efforts tied to North Korea-linked hacks and could invite further legal challenges. As an alternative to immediate vacatur, the filing requests that Gerstein Harrow post a $300 million bond to keep the restraining notice in place while the court resolves the dispute.

No judge has yet ruled on the emergency motion and a hearing date has not been scheduled. Gerstein Harrow has brought similar claims in the past involving assets frozen after the 2023 Heco Bridge incident and a 2025 Bybit exploit.