Aave and Arbitrum Conduct Binding On-Chain Vote on Frozen $71 Million

A recent development in the blockchain world has seen Aave and Arbitrum initiate a binding on-chain vote to transfer $71 million in frozen ETH. The move is aimed at complying with a federal court order tied to competing claims from North Korean terrorism judgment creditors.

The vote, scheduled to open on May 15, involves a Constitutional Arbitrum Improvement Proposal (AIP) designed to implement an order issued by Judge Margaret Garnett. Under the terms of the court's order, the assets would remain subject to strict legal restrictions and could not be freely used or transferred without further court authorization.

The dispute over the frozen ETH took on added complexity after blockchain analytics firms attributed the Kelp DAO exploit to North Korea's Lazarus Group. This attribution has been cited by lawyers representing plaintiffs holding $877 million in unpaid U.S. terrorism judgments against North Korea, who argue that if the assets are linked to North Korea for enforcement purposes, they could be applied toward outstanding court awards.

Aave disputes this position, maintaining that the ETH belongs to users harmed in the exploit rather than to the attackers who briefly held it.