Arbitrum DAO votes 90%+ to release $71M in frozen ETH — but a Manhattan court fight could still block the transfer!

Arbitrum delegates voted with more than 90% support on Friday to release 30,765 ETH — roughly $71 million — frozen after the April 18 Lazarus-linked rsETH exploit, in which attackers used unbacked rsETH tokens as collateral on Aave to borrow approximately $230 million from the protocol. The funds are earmarked for an industry-led recovery effort coordinated by Aave, KelpDAO, LayerZero, EtherFi, and Compound.

The vote does not move the funds immediately. Structured as a Constitutional AIP under Arbitrum's governance framework, the transfer is subject to a mandatory eight-day delay — a window that gives a Manhattan federal court time to intervene. Lawyers representing families holding $877 million in unpaid terrorism judgments against North Korea have served a restraining notice on Arbitrum DAO, arguing the frozen ETH constitutes North Korean property under Lazarus Group…