Aave maintains a $50 million insurance fund to absorb bad debt. However, this can't cover such a huge shortfall.
Aave faces approximately $200 million in bad debt after Kelp DAO bridge exploit
The Aave defi lending protocol is grappling with anywhere from $177 million to $236 million in bad debt after the Kelp DAO bridge exploiter used Aave to cash out their stolen rsETH. Rather than selling the tokens, the attacker used the rsETH as collateral to borrow wETH, leaving Aave stuck with the huge quantity of unbacked rsETH. Although Kelp and Aave both froze affected markets, the attacker had already cashed out. The attacker borrowed essentially all of the wETH available on the platform, leaving those who'd loaned those tokens unable to withdraw.