A U.S. law firm files to prevent the transfer of ETH frozen in the Kelp attack, with the compensation amount exceeding $870 million.

BlockBeats News. On May 4, the U.S. law firm Gerstein Harrow LLP filed with the court to seek a restraining order, attempting to prevent Arbitrum DAO from transferring Ethereum assets that were frozen in connection with the Kelp attack. The law firm said its client has obtained default judgments in three cases against North Korea, totaling approximately $877 million (including punitive damages and interest), and asserted that it has a claim to the relevant assets.

Previously, on April 18, Kelp DAO was attacked, suffering losses of about $292 million, which was believed to be linked to the North Korean hacker organization Lazarus Group. Subsequently, the Arbitrum Security Council urgently froze approximately 30,766 Ether (about $73 million).

The incident has sparked controversy. Some community members believe that if the restraining order takes effect, it will delay the return of funds to affected users and shift North Korea-related debts onto secondary victims. Previously, Aave Labs had proposed unfreezing the funds and injecting a compensation fund to restore the damaged assets.

It is notable that Gerstein Harrow has also filed claims multiple times in the past against assets stolen by North Korea-related hackers and subsequently frozen by crypto platforms, including the 2023 Heco Bridge incident. Industry analysts believe this case could have a precedent-setting impact on the disposal of DAO assets and the definition of claim rights across jurisdictions.