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Framework Ventures launched a $400 million fund to invest in crypto, artificial intelligence, robotics, and energy startups.About half of the new capital has already been deployed, with support from sovereign wealth funds, endowments, funds of funds, and nonprofit investors.Framework joined firms such as Haun Ventures and Paradigm in expanding beyond crypto as venture investment increasingly targets artificial intelligence.

Kraken is in talks to acquire a 15% stake in Aave through a deal that values the DeFi protocol at $385 million.The proposed investment would include 35,000 ETH, 250,000 AAVE tokens, and a 15% equity stake in Aave Group, CoinDesk reported.The discussions extend Payward’s expansion beyond crypto trading after recent moves into regulated derivatives and tokenized financial products.

Kraken is in talks to acquire a 15% stake in Aave through a deal that values the DeFi protocol at $385 million.The proposed investment would include 35,000 ETH, 250,000 AAVE tokens, and a 15% equity stake in Aave Group, CoinDesk reported.The discussions extend Payward’s expansion beyond crypto trading after recent moves into regulated derivatives and tokenized financial products.

CoinDesk reported Kraken parent firm Payward is in talks to buy a 15% stake in the protocol at a $385 million valuation, which would severely undervalue AAVE’s FDV.Kulechov earlier this year submitted a radical governance proposal that redirected all Aave Labs, protocol, and product revenue to the Aave DAO and token holders.

Bitcoin to $500K, Ethereum to $40K, and Aave to $3,500 by the end of 2030? Standard Chartered just laid out some bullish price targets.

CFTC may turn its Phantom no-action stance into rules for non-custodial crypto software developers soon.The Phantom letter said some self-custody wallet providers may avoid broker registration under stated conditions.Selig also said CFTC will keep suing states over prediction market rules it says breach federal authority.

Fun powers deposits, withdrawals, and settlement flows for some of crypto’s leading apps, including Polymarket, Lighter, and Aave.Multicoin Capital and SignalFire co-led its $72 million Series A funding round, which will support expansion plans, including a new Singapore office and potential acquisitions.

Mantle Network says its rsETH relief credit facility proposal for Aave has moved into the governance voting stage on Snapshot, with MNT holders required to delegate before they can vote.The proposal would let Mantle’s treasury lend up to 30,000 ETH to Aave’s DeFi United recovery effort, giving users more orderly ways to exit or restructure positions impacted by the April 18 rsETH exploit.DeFi United, the multi‑DAO rescue initiative led by Aave, has now raised 1,137,714.633 ETH—about $314.57 million at current prices—from commitments across at least six DAOs and multiple major protocols.

Circle Ventures’ purchase of Aave’s $AAVE token is being framed as “direct support for DeFi infrastructure.”The move lands days after Aave absorbed fallout from a $293M KelpDAO exploit and over $170M in bad debt.The deal comes as Circle positions itself around a looming U.S. stablecoin bill that could reshape its core USDC business.

Mantle proposed a 30,000 ETH loan to help Aave cover bad debt from Kelp’s exploit.The loan would use Mantle Treasury funds and carry yield based on Lido staking APR.Aave would secure the facility with revenue and at least $11M worth of AAVE tokens.

Over $606 million was stolen from crypto protocols across 12 incidents in the first 18 days of April 2026, according to DefiLlama data.Two attacks, the $285 million Drift Protocol exploit and the $292 million KelpDAO breach, account for approximately 95% of April’s losses.April’s total is already 3.7 times larger than the entire first quarter’s combined losses of $165.5 million, with the month not yet over.

Vercel has confirmed it was compromised after a member of a hacking forum put the company’s information up for sale for $2 million.

The Aave token fell nearly 20% to $89.5 in just over 24 hours as users withdrew billions of dollars from the lending protocol.

After attackers drained $291 million in crypto from Kelp DAO-linked infrastructure, DeFi users struggled on Aave to withdraw funds.

One of the largest decentralized finance (DeFi) exploits of 2026 took place on Saturday..

An attacker seemingly drained 116,500 rsETH from Kelp DAO’s LayerZero-powered cross-chain bridge on Saturday, worth approximately $292 million at current market prices.Kelp’s emergency pauser multisig froze the protocol’s core contracts roughly 46 minutes after the successful drain, blocking two follow-up attempts.Neither Kelp nor parent protocol KernelDAO have publicly acknowledged the incident as of publication.Aave responded by freezing rsETH markets on Aave V3 and V4 and said any potential bad debt could be offset with Umbrella assets.This is a developing story.