Bryan Pellegrino (LayerZero CEO)
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anchored·2J6GJx…xRN4Summary
Bryan Pellegrino is co-founder and CEO of LayerZero Labs, the cross-chain messaging protocol used by bridges across more than 70 blockchains. After an April 2026 exploit drained about $292 million in rsETH from KelpDAO's LayerZero-based bridge, KelpDAO's operator Evercrest Technologies filed a civil claim in the Supreme Court of British Columbia naming Pellegrino personally alongside LayerZero, alleging negligent misrepresentation, negligence and defamation. LayerZero has publicly admitted fault in permitting the single-verifier configuration, while Pellegrino has called the lawsuit meritless; the allegations are unproven.
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Timeline(20 events)
February 2021
Bryan Pellegrino co-founds LayerZero Labs with Caleb Banister and Ryan Zarick.
Sequoia Capital — LayerZero's Bryan Pellegrino: From Poker to ProtocolsMarch 2022
LayerZero Labs closes a $135 million Series A+ round co-led by a16z, Sequoia, and FTX Ventures at a $1 billion valuation.
A16z, FTX and Sequoia Lead $135M Round for LayerZero — CoinDeskApril 2023
LayerZero Labs closes a $120 million Series B round at a $3 billion valuation.
Crypto Protocol LayerZero Raises $120M at $3B Valuation — CoinDeskFebruary 2024
According to Evercrest's civil claim, LayerZero reviewed and described KelpDAO's 1-of-1 DVN configuration as 'good' with 'no problem.' This date is drawn from the civil filing and has not been independently verified; it is disputed by LayerZero.
Decrypt — KelpDAO Developer Sues LayerZero Over $292M Bridge ExploitMay 2024
LayerZero launches ZRO token airdrop with anti-sybil process; approximately 803,093 addresses flagged as potential sybils.
LayerZero Labs CEO says up to 100,000 addresses have self-reported as airdrop sybils — The BlockMarch 2026
According to LayerZero's incident report, a threat actor (attributed to North Korea's TraderTraitor group) socially engineered a LayerZero developer to install malware, gaining access to internal RPC infrastructure.
LayerZero Labs KelpDAO Incident Report — LayerZeroApril 2026
Attacker drains 116,500 rsETH (~$292 million) from KelpDAO's LayerZero-based bridge by compromising RPC infrastructure behind its single (1-of-1) verifier.
CoinDesk — Kelp DAO exploited for $292 million with wrapped ether stranded across 20 chainsApril 2026
LayerZero's initial post-mortem says its protocol 'functioned exactly as intended' and attributes the exploit to KelpDAO's configuration choice; KelpDAO publicly disputes this, saying the 1-of-1 setup reflected LayerZero's documented default.
CoinDesk — Kelp DAO claims LayerZero's default settings are what actually caused the $290 million disasterApril 2026
LayerZero attributes the exploit to North Korea's Lazarus Group (TraderTraitor sub-group); stolen funds are traced and partially frozen across chains.
UPI — North Korean hackers tied to $290M crypto heist, firm saysApril 2026
LayerZero publishes incident statement claiming KelpDAO's setup 'directly contradicts the multi-DVN redundancy model' it had 'consistently recommended.' Pellegrino posts that 'nobody should be relying on sole DVN.' KelpDAO disputes these characterizations.
CoinDesk — Kelp DAO claims LayerZero's default settings are what actually caused the $290 million disasterApril 2026
Attacker drains about $292 million in rsETH; KelpDAO publicly disputes LayerZero's characterization on April 20, saying the 1-of-1 setup reflected LayerZero's default (see also LayerZero's April 19 statement).
CoinDesk — Kelp DAO claims LayerZero's default settings are what actually caused the $290 million disasterApril 2026
LayerZero attributes the KelpDAO attack to TraderTraitor (Lazarus Group).
CoinDesk — Kelp DAO exploited for $292 million with wrapped ether stranded across 20 chainsMay 2026
KelpDAO alleges LayerZero personnel approved its 1-of-1 verifier setup over roughly 2.5 years of integration discussions, citing an unauthenticated Telegram screenshot and LayerZero's own default documentation; LayerZero says KelpDAO manually downgraded from a multi-DVN deployment.
CoinDesk — Kelp claims that LayerZero approved the setup it blamed for $292 million bridge hackMay 2026
Solv Protocol announces it is moving approximately $700 million in tokenized bitcoin infrastructure from LayerZero to Chainlink CCIP.
The $700 million migration: Solv Protocol ditches LayerZero for Chainlink — CoinDeskMay 2026
Kraken announces it will replace LayerZero with Chainlink for kBTC and future wrapped assets.
Kraken to replace LayerZero with Chainlink for kBTC — CoinDesk9 May 2026
LayerZero issues a public apology, admitting 'we made a mistake by allowing our DVN to act as a 1/1 DVN for high-value transactions,' and disables 1-of-1 DVN configurations network-wide.
The Block — LayerZero issues public apology for Kelp DAO exploit response, admits fault in single-verifier setupJune 2026
Aave overhauls its asset-listing standards following the rsETH exploit's exposure of cross-chain bridge risk.
CoinDesk — Aave overhauls listing standards after $230 million rsETH exploit exposed bridge risksJuly 2026
CoinDesk reports over $7.2 billion in total announced migrations from LayerZero to Chainlink CCIP.
Over $7.2 billion have migrated from LayerZero to Chainlink CCIP — CoinDeskSeptember 2026
Pellegrino publicly responds on X, calling the claim 'meritless' and stating he will defend himself and LayerZero in a British Columbia court.
CoinDesk — KelpDAO sues LayerZero for the largest exploit 2026 has seen so far24 September 2026
Evercrest Technologies Inc. files a notice of civil claim in the Supreme Court of British Columbia against LayerZero Labs Ltd., LayerZero Labs Canada Inc., and Bryan Pellegrino personally, alleging negligent misrepresentation, negligence, and defamation.
CryptoTimes — Evercrest (KelpDAO) Files Civil Claim Against LayerZero and CEO Bryan PellegrinoDecision Log
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- slot 450737173 · hash 4HdxSERFm9KGzVh2KYbpYHiK2hi1BQ2PVKFg7bBqh8kt
This investigation is cryptographically anchored to the Solana blockchain (3 decisions). 29 of 43 cited source URLs have an Internet Archive snapshot.
model: claude-code-merge-writer
generated: 9/26/2026, 5:07:03 PM
last updated: 10/27/2026, 6:51:18 AM
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