# @arbitrum: Security Council freezes 30,766 ETH from KelpDAO exploiter

Source: https://x.com/arbitrum/status/2046435443680346189?s=12

## Summary

The Arbitrum Security Council has frozen 30,766 ETH held on Arbitrum One at an address connected to the KelpDAO exploit. The Security Council acted with input from law enforcement on the exploiter's identity, and says it did so without affecting any Arbitrum users or applications. As of April 20 at 11:26pm ET, the funds had been transferred to an intermediary frozen wallet and can only be moved through further Arbitrum governance action, coordinated with relevant parties.

## Article

The Arbitrum Security Council has taken emergency action to freeze the 30,766 ETH being held in the address on Arbitrum One that is connected to the KelpDAO exploit. The Security Council acted with input from law enforcement as to the exploiter’s identity, and, at all times, weighed its commitment to the security and integrity of the Arbitrum community without impacting any Arbitrum users or applications.

After significant technical diligence and deliberation, the Security Council identified and executed a technical approach to move funds to safety without affecting any other chain state or Arbitrum users.

As of April 20 11:26pm ET the funds have been successfully transferred to an intermediary frozen wallet. They are no longer accessible to the address that originally held the funds, and can only be moved by further action by Arbitrum governance, which will be coordinated with relevant parties.

## Comments

**timdaub.eth**: Someone wrote: „I guess we now know that L2s are not decentralized“

**timdaub.eth**: https://x.com/dogetoshi/status/2046434960228143143?s=46 People are confused 🤣

**timdaub.eth**: Technical details: https://forum.arbitrum.foundation/t/security-council-emergency-action-21-04-2026/30803

**mishaderidder.eth**: It brings to mind the Gnosis hard fork after the Balancer hack. Decentralized systems are built for humans (and broken by humans). Code is law until humans decide it shouldn't be. Not a failure of decentralization, but accountability working as intended. Unaccountable DeFi just becomes shadow TradFi with worse UX. Still, the real question is who gets to pull the lever, and how to keep it neutral and transparent. The honest answer: there's no perfectly neutral lever, only legitimate ways of pulling it.

With Gnosis, legitimacy came from ‘right of exit’: users could always withdraw or fork. The ultimate check, as Gnosis proved. Neutrality isn't a property of the lever; it's a property of the process around it.

Arbitrum freezing the ETH from the KelpDAO exploiter was arguably the right call, but there's no exit. If you're on Arbitrum, you're subject to the council's discretion. Legitimacy is borrowed from the outcome (stopping a thief), not the process (user consent).

Gnosis: consent-based. Arbitrum: trust-based. Consent scales; trust doesn't. That's the discussion we need to have.