Aave cleared to move $71 million ETH from Arbitrum after court order

A Manhattan federal judge has authorized the transfer of about 30,766 ETH—valued at roughly $71 million—from the Arbitrum network to a wallet controlled by the Aave lending protocol [1]. The ruling enables a governance vote to move the frozen assets while preserving existing legal claims tied to the funds.

Key takeaways

• The court order allows an on‑chain vote to relocate the ETH without exposing participants to liability [1].
• The transferred ETH will be held in a 3‑of‑4 Gnosis Safe with signers from Aave Labs, Kelp DAO, Certora and Etherfi [2].
• The move is part of a broader “DeFi United” recovery program that has already gathered over $314 million in pledges [1].
• Arbitrum’s community previously approved the release of the funds in a near‑unanimous Snapshot poll [1].
• Legal representatives for families with $877 million default judgments against North Korea raised concerns about the assets’ ownership [1].

Court approval and the proposed governance vote

U.S. District Judge Margaret M. Garnett issued a concise two‑page order that modifies an earlier restraining notice served on the Arbitrum DAO, explicitly permitting a binding vote to move the immobilized ETH [1]. The judge’s decision balances the need for a swift technical transfer with the preservation of any underlying claims, stating that the legal claims will follow the assets to their new location. Aave responded to the court by filing an urgent motion, arguing that stolen property does not confer ownership rights to thieves and that delays could destabilize DeFi markets [1].

The proposed mechanism for the transfer involves a designated recovery address (0xf22) within a 3‑of‑4 Gnosis Safe, with signers representing Aave Labs, Kelp DAO, Certora and Etherfi [2]. If the first round of votes passes, a Snapshot “temperature check” will gauge delegate sentiment before the proposal is formally submitted on‑chain via Tally as a Constitutional Arbitrum Improvement Proposal (AIP). The 30,765 ETH frozen by Arbitrum is described as a “material contribution toward restoring” the backing of the rsETH token that was compromised in the Kelp DAO exploit [2].

Coordinated restitution effort and open questions

The Arbitrum exploit on April 18, linked by analysts to the Lazarus Group, left a deficit of roughly $292 million and triggered a cascade of freezes by Arbitrum’s Security Council [1]. In response, multiple protocols and foundations have pledged more than $314 million toward compensating affected users, with a separate $101 million contributed by 13 DeFi projects to the “DeFi United” recovery effort [1][2]. While the court order clears the path for the ETH to be moved into Aave‑controlled mechanisms, families holding $877 million in default judgments against North Korea have argued that the assets could be subject to their enforcement actions [1]. The judge’s order leaves broader ownership questions unresolved, deferring further decisions to future proceedings.