The company behind KelpDAO has sued LayerZero and co-founder Bryan Pellegrino over the April exploit that drained approximately $292 million from its rsETH bridge. The civil claim, reported on September 25, was brought by Evercrest Technologies in the Supreme Court of British Columbia. It moves a dispute over cross-chain security into litigation, with the companies contesting responsibility for the configuration used by the compromised bridge and their communications before the attack.

Evercrest alleges LayerZero reviewed and endorsed a setup that relied on a single decentralized verifier network, known as a 1-of-1 DVN configuration. The complaint includes claims of negligence, negligent misrepresentation and defamation. KelpDAO’s position is that failures in LayerZero’s security infrastructure contributed to the loss of 116,500 rsETH. Pellegrino disputes the allegations and has described the claim as meritless, saying he will defend himself.

The central technical question concerns how a bridge decides that a message from another blockchain is authentic. If only one verifier’s approval is required, the reliability of that verifier becomes especially important. Requiring several independent checks can change the security assumptions, but responsibility also depends on what was configured, what guidance was provided and what the parties understood about the system before an incident occurred.

The lawsuit adds a contractual and legal dimension to an exploit that already affected confidence in the affected infrastructure. A court process can examine written communications and the division of responsibilities more closely than public exchanges between company executives. The September development is the filing of the civil claim; it does not resolve liability. Subsequent pleadings and rulings will determine which allegations proceed and how responsibility for the bridge setup is assessed.