Circle Ventures is acquiring AAVE tokens in a show of support for the decentralized finance ecosystem, becoming the latest entity to join DeFi United, a multi-party recovery initiative led by Aave service providers in response to the April 18 rsETH incident.
“Strong DeFi infrastructure does not build itself,” Circle Ventures said in a statement. “Aave is helping to shape the future of onchain finance, and we’re backing that ecosystem and the entire community built around it.”
The move expands a growing list of supporters rallying behind DeFi United.
Consensys and Ethereum co-founder Joseph Lubin have contributed up to 30,000 ETH toward the rsETH recovery, alongside strategic advisory support from Sharplink.
Aave said their involvement has been a major part of the effort, noting that the recovery would not be advancing at its current pace without their contributions.
Leading Ethereum stewards @Consensys and @ethereumJoseph have joined DeFi United with up to 30,000 ETH in financial support for the rsETH recovery effort, with ongoing strategic advisory from @Sharplink.
Their contributions are a substantial component of the broader DeFi United…
— Aave (@aave) April 27, 2026
The exploit
On April 18, an attacker exploited a bridge configuration to trick a cross-chain mechanism into releasing roughly 116,500 fraudulent rsETH tokens, a liquid restaked derivative tied to Ethereum staking.
The exploit drained collateral pools across several protocols. Aave, which governs more than $10 billion in total value locked, took a large share of the damage. WETH pool utilization hit 100%. Bad debt exceeded $177 million.
The response
DeFi United formed in the days following as a coordinated relief effort led by Aave service providers. The goal is to restore rsETH’s collateral backing so that market conditions can normalize across Ethereum, Arbitrum, and other affected networks.
The campaign, called “DeFi United,” has already pulled in over $237 million in commitments from more than 116,000 wallets.
Arbitrum DAO has a pending vote for 30,765 ETH. Mantle is considering 30,000 ETH. Aave DAO itself is voting on 25,000 ETH. Stani Kulechov, Aave’s founder and CEO, committed 5,000 ETH from his own holdings.
Ether.Fi, Lido, Kelp, Golem Foundation, BGD Labs, and others have pledged amounts ranging from 350 to 5,000 ETH each.