Kelp DAO is a decentralized autonomous organization (DAO) focused on enhancing the liquidity and utility of staked cryptocurrency assets, primarily through its liquid restaking platform. Restaking allows users to earn additional rewards by staking their assets in multiple places, and Kelp DAO simplifies this by pooling together these assets and offering a token called rsETH (Restaked Ether). This token represents fractional ownership of the staked assets and can be traded or used in decentralized finance (DeFi) applications. By integrating across multiple blockchains, Kelp DAO allows staking on a broader scale, increasing the flexibility and potential rewards for users. This platform charges a fee on the rewards earned, aiming to maximize returns for restakers by saving them the hassle of managing and monitoring different operations.

Kelp DAO was founded in 2023 by Amitej Gajjala and Dheeraj Borra, who also co-founded Stader Labs. Gajjala has a background as an Assistant Vice President at both Swiggy and Zapr Media Labs in India, while Borra has experience as an engineer at LinkedIn, Blend Labs, and PayPal. These founders leveraged their expertise in crypto and software engineering to develop solutions in the blockchain and restaking space, with Kelp DAO being an active entity focusing on liquidity for restaking platforms like EigenLayer.

Yes, you can stake tokens in the Kelp DAO project. Here's a breakdown of staking within the Kelp DAO:

1. Tokens Eligible for Staking:

   • rsETH (Restaked ETH): Kelp introduces rsETH, a liquid restaking token designed for the Ethereum ecosystem. It facilitates staking through EigenLayer, a liquid restaking platform. Users can stake native ETH or Liquid Staking Tokens (LSTs) like ETHx and stETH source.

2. Staking Process:

   • Participants deposit their ETH or LSTs into Kelp to mint rsETH tokens.
   • These rsETH tokens represent fractional ownership of the underlying staked assets.
   • Kelp DAO then distributes these tokens among various services and node operators source.

3. Staking Benefits:

   • Rewards and Fees: Restakers earn additional rewards that are automatically distributed back into their rsETH holdings. Kelp DAO charges a 10% fee on rewards earned from ETH deposits, but no fees on LST deposits.
   • Liquidity and Usage: Restakers can trade their rsETH on automated market makers (AMMs), use them for providing liquidity in decentralized exchanges, and further integrate them into DeFi opportunities to enhance returns.
   • Future Rewards: Holders of Kelp Earned Points ($KEP), which can be claimed based on the restaked points (EigenLayer Points), gain access to future rewards and a diversified DeFi interaction landscape source.

4. Rewards Mechanism:

   • KEP Tokens: Restakers earn and may claim KEP tokens weekly. These tokens allow complete autonomy in trading and engaging with DeFi ecosystems, with a 0.5% claim fee applied to accrued rewards source.

Overall, Kelp DAO facilitates a comprehensive restaking experience by offering opportunities for liquidity and rewards through rsETH and KEP, integrating well within the multi-chain DeFi ecosystem.

As of 2025, there have been no reported hacks, exploits, or outages involving significant financial loss directly affecting the native protocol or network of the Kelp DAO project. My investigation did not uncover any relevant incidents that meet these criteria.

Kelp DAO implements several security measures to safeguard its platform, some of which are unique to the project:

1. Decentralization & Governance: Changes to Kelp-deployed contracts are controlled by Admin and Manager multi-signature accounts, which provide a layer of security by requiring multiple approvals for contract changes. This reduces the risk of a single point of failure (source).

2. Domain & UI Security: Kelp faced a UI attack due to compromised nameservers, which displayed malicious wallet activity. The team responded swiftly by recovering domain control and is planning to switch registrars to prevent future incidents (source).

3. Integrated Layer 2 (L2) Security: Kelp's Gain Vaults program allows for Layer 2 airdrops through a smart contract management system. Assets are deposited into the vault and managed with smart contracts to optimize rewards. The vault works with strategic partners to ensure secure interactions with various DeFi strategies (source).

4. Risk Mitigation in Restaking: The introduction of the Risk Committee aims to further decentralize decision-making related to protocol changes, thus enhancing transparency and reducing the risk of unilateral actions affecting security (source).

Despite these measures, potential vulnerabilities exist, such as the UI attack mentioned earlier, which reflects the ongoing need for vigilance and proactive security management.

Kelp DAO has undergone several audits. Here's a chronological list of the audits with the details available:

• Sigma Prime: Conducted a smart contract audit, including evaluations for withdrawals. The date is not specified in the available data, but the most recent Sigma Prime audit is approximately within the last year. Audit Report
• MixBytes: Performed an audit on the smart contracts. The exact date is not specified, but it is documented that a security audit by MixBytes took place.
• Code4rena: Conducted a notable audit. Exact dates are not provided, but this audit is referenced as a significant evaluation of the platform's risks and integrity.

For accessing the detailed audit reports, you can visit their designated pages linked above.