Mantle Network's proposal to lend up to 30,000 ETH to Aave's DeFi United rsETH rescue effort has officially moved to a governance vote on Snapshot. This structured credit facility is a key component of a massive, multi-DAO coordination aimed at mitigating the fallout from the April 18 rsETH bridge exploit.
The proposal, known as MIP-34, requires MNT token holders to delegate their voting power before they can participate in the vote. If approved, it would authorize the Mantle Treasury to lend up to 30,000 ETH to the Aave DAO. The funds are specifically earmarked to clear bad debt and collateral shortfalls created by the exploit.
Structure of the Mantle-Aave Facility
The loan is designed to run for up to 36 months and will pay a floating yield benchmarked to Lido's stETH staking return plus a 1% spread. This structure allows Mantle to turn idle treasury ETH into a yield-bearing position rather than a one-off grant. On Aave's side, the DAO has proposed backing the facility with 5% of its protocol revenue and at least $11 million worth of AAVE tokens. Additionally, Mantle would be granted delegated governance rights over roughly 130,000 AAVE to align incentives. The collateral will be held in a multisig wallet, with no penalty for early repayment and default protections designed to limit Mantle's downside.
DeFi United's $314 Million War Chest
The credit facility adds to a substantial pool of pledged ETH and stETH gathered under the DeFi United banner. The initiative's donation and relief addresses have now accumulated 1,137,714.633 ETH, worth approximately $314.57 million. This includes major contributions from Arbitrum DAO (30,765 ETH), Mantle's planned 30,000 ETH loan, AaveDAO's proposed 25,000 ETH, EtherFi's 5,000 ETH, Lido's 2,500 stETH, and commitments from individuals and institutions like the Golem Foundation. The goal is to plug an estimated 68,900–118,000 ETH shortfall in rsETH's backing after the KelpDAO exploit and restore healthy collateralization ratios across Aave and other lending markets.
Arbitrum Vote to Release $71 Million in Frozen Ether
In a parallel development, a proposal to release 30,765 ETH (approximately $71 million) frozen by Arbitrum's Security Council has moved to a governance vote. The funds were frozen on April 21 following the exploit, with the council stating a governance decision was required for their release. As of publication, 100% of votes cast supported the proposal, representing 34.2 million ARB tokens. If passed, the funds will be transferred to a 3-of-4 Gnosis Safe with signers from Aave Labs, Kelp DAO, Certora, and EtherFi. This multi-step process is seen as a key test of decentralized governance frameworks in a crisis.
Scale of the rsETH Backing Shortfall
The April 18 exploit resulted in the release of 116,500 restaked Ether without a corresponding burn, creating a significant collateral mismatch. Analysis shows a shortfall of approximately 76,127 rsETH, currently valued at around $174.5 million. While the 30,765 ETH from Arbitrum is a material contribution, it does not fully close the gap, highlighting remaining systemic risk in the restaking and liquid staking derivatives market.
Aave founder Stani Kulechov described the DeFi United framework as “the largest DAO coordination I have participated in,” pointing to parallel governance processes across multiple major protocols. Legal analysts have framed the event as a landmark example of “on-chain interventions” coordinated across multiple DAOs.
