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JPMorgan analysts say recurring security breaches and weak capital growth are preventing institutions from committing to decentralized finance. The findings were published in a Wednesday report led by managing director Nikolaos Panigirtzoglou.
The Kelp DAO exploit served as the central example in the report. The attack erased an estimated $20 billion from DeFi total value locked within a matter of days, according to the analysts.
The attacker exploited a cross-chain bridge to mint $292 million in unbacked rsETH tokens. Those tokens were then used as collateral on the lending protocol Aave to borrow real <a href="https://xpertsstudio.com/forecast-update-for-ethereum-17-08/” title=”Forecast update for Ethereum -17-08″>Ethereum, leaving an estimated$230 million in bad debt across the protocol.
Losses did not stay contained to platforms directly exposed to rsETH. Capital fled from pools with no direct connection to the compromised asset, which the analysts said demonstrates how DeFi’s interconnected structure turns localized breaches into sector-wide shocks.
LayerZero and independent blockchain security researchers have attributed the attack to North Korea’s Lazarus Group. Some of the stolen funds have been frozen, while the remainder continues to move through wallets and privacy protocols.
Total hack losses across the crypto sector this year are running at roughly the same pace as 2025, the analysts noted. Smart contract auditing has improved, but cross-chain bridge security remains the segment with the highest concentration of unresolved risk.
Growth figures add to the concerns. In dollar terms, DeFi TVL has partially recovered alongside the broader crypto market. In Ethereum terms, TVL has stayed flat, which the analysts said raises questions about whether the sector can generate the organic growth needed to attract institutional capital at scale.
During periods of stress, investors have moved funds out of DeFi and into stablecoins. The analysts said USDT benefits from deeper liquidity on centralized exchanges and faster off-ramp options, positioning it as the preferred exit vehicle during on-chain stress. That rotation has not yet shown up in USDT market cap growth, the analysts added. On-chain analytics firm CryptoQuant separately reported that borrowing rates across DeFi surged sharply in the wake of the exploit, reflecting a broader liquidity squeeze that followed the attack.
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