KyberSwap Elastic Review 2026: Pools After the 2023 Exploit

KyberSwap Elastic is the concentrated-liquidity pool product from the Kyber team, which also runs the KyberSwap aggregator and the KNC token. It lets liquidity providers set price ranges and earn fees from swaps, and was deployed on many EVM chains.

On 22 November 2023, Elastic suffered a security incident. The project later published a post-mortem and set up a Treasury Grant Program for affected users, which it describes as providing full coverage. That event is now the main thing anyone should know about the product.

Current TVL is about $120,000 across the listed chains, which suggests a small fraction of its former activity. The main KyberSwap site now centres on its aggregator, limit orders, cross-chain swaps and newer earn products such as vaults. The material reviewed does not state whether Elastic pools are formally wound down, so check the official docs for current status.

KyberSwap Elastic is an automated market maker. Instead of an order book, traders swap against pools of tokens supplied by liquidity providers, and providers earn a share of the swap fees.

Elastic uses concentrated liquidity. A provider chooses a price range, and the capital works only inside it. This can earn more fees per dollar than a classic full-range pool, but the position stops earning when the price moves out of range and can suffer impermanent loss. One source describes Elastic as similar to Uniswap v3 with an amplification feature on top.

The positions are tracked on-chain through tick-based accounting, which makes the contract logic more complex. The November 2023 incident targeted this area of the protocol, which is why the post-mortem is essential reading for anyone considering the product.

The material reviewed does not publish a single fee schedule for Elastic. Pools let the liquidity provider pick a fee tier, and the support section includes guidance on which tier to choose, so swap fees vary by pool.

On top of pool fees, users pay network gas on whichever chain they use, plus any slippage from thin liquidity. Pool-level fees and APRs are shown on the platform's pool pages before you commit.

Security is the weak point. The 22 November 2023 exploit hit Elastic directly, and the project's own documentation refers to it as a security incident. A post-mortem and a Treasury Grant Program followed, with the project describing coverage for affected users as 100%.

The homepage lists audits by Omniscia, Spearbit and Hexens, and a DeFi data tracker lists two audits. The exploit shows that audits do not remove contract risk. Wallets and funds stay in user custody, but pooled liquidity sits in smart contracts that can fail.

The project does not publish a regulatory licence in the material reviewed. Verify the product's current status in the official docs, and only commit funds you can afford to lose.

This review suits readers researching DeFi incidents, existing liquidity providers checking on legacy positions, and people comparing concentrated-liquidity designs. It is a poor fit for beginners or anyone who wants deep liquidity and a clean security record.