DeFi lender Aave asks court to block $71 million crypto seizure tied to North Korea claims

Decentralized lending platform Aave has filed a motion in a U.S. federal court to block the seizure of approximately $71 million in crypto. This action is being pursued by victims of North Korean terrorism who claim the funds, frozen after an rsETH-related exploit, are linked to North Korea. Aave argues that the 30,765 ETH, frozen by Arbitrum's Security Council, belongs to innocent users of its protocol and not to North Korea or its judgment creditors. The platform warns that keeping the assets frozen risks "irreparable harm" to Aave and the broader DeFi ecosystem, potentially leading to cascading liquidations and market destabilization. The core of the dispute lies in whether stolen property, even briefly held by hackers believed to be linked to North Korea's Lazarus Group, can be claimed by external creditors against existing judgments against the state. Aave contends this theory is "flatly wrong" and would punish blameless users while undermining basic property law and future crypto recovery efforts.

(Source：CoinDesk)