SPK spikes 80% as Spark absorbs Aave outflows post-KelpDAO exploit

By Vivian Nguyen · Published April 23, 2026 · 2 min read · Source: Crypto Briefing

SPK spikes 80% as Spark absorbs Aave outflows post-KelpDAO exploit

Aave's massive outflow after an exploit has opened a gateway for Spark's rapid growth.

Add us on Google by Vivian Nguyen Apr. 23, 2026

SPK, the native asset of Spark Protocol, surged over 80% on Wednesday, as more than $1 billion fled to the DeFi platform in the aftermath of the KelpDAO exploit.

Over the last 24 hours, the token climbed from $0.03 to $0.055, pushing its market cap to $144 million, per CoinMarketCap. The rally was accompanied by a sharp spike in activity, with trading volume soaring 1,027% to nearly $500 million.

At the time of reporting, SPK changed hands at around $0.053, still down over 70% from its record high of $0.18 established last July.

DeFi capital has been on the move since the $292 million attack. Aave’s TVL contracted from approximately $26.4 billion to $15 billion, while Spark recorded an increase from $3.8 billion to over $5 billion during the same period, according to DeFiLlama.

Total value locked represents the value of assets stored in a protocol’s smart contracts, including both collateral from borrowers and deposits from lenders in Spark.

TVL can increase either through incentive programs that draw new capital or through inflows from other protocols. Spark’s latest surge is driven by the second factor.

AAVE has trended lower since the incident, with the token down roughly 21% and trading at $92.

Aave said its exposure to the rsETH exploit involving KelpDAO could result in between $124 million and $230 million in bad debt, though it stressed the incident originated outside its core smart contracts.

The attacker reportedly used a cross-chain exploit to mint rsETH and deploy it to AAVE markets as collateral. In response, Aave has frozen impacted assets, tightened borrowing parameters, and outlined two recovery paths depending on whether losses are socialized or isolated to layer 2 networks.

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