Crypto gambling site Stake sees $16M withdrawn in possible hack

Crypto gambling site Stake experienced $16 million in withdrawals on Sept. 4 in what security platform Cyvers Alerts is calling “suspicious transactions.” The withdrawing account has been labeled “Stake.com Hacker” by Etherscan, implying that the drained funds may be the result of a stolen private key.

ALERTOur AI-powered system has detected multiple suspicious transactions with @Stake.https://t.co/0ZoMITOyF5 address received about $16M in $ETH $USDC $USDT and $DAI

All the stable coins are converted to $ETH and distributed to different EOAs.

FYI: @tayvano_ @zachxbt pic.twitter.com/CSGwRHEiVm

— Cyvers Alerts (@CyversAlerts) September 4, 2023

Blockchain data shows very large withdrawals from Stake.com contracts into the alleged attacker’s account. The first transaction occurred at 12:48 pm, transferring approximately $3.9 million worth of stablecoin Tether (USDT) from Stake to the attacker’s account. The next two transactions removed 6,001 Ether (ETH), worth approximately $9.8 million at the current price. The attacker continued to remove tokens over the next few minutes, including approximately $1 million in USD Coin (USDC), $900,000 worth of Dai (DAI) and 333 Stake Classic (STAKE) ($75.48). Cyvers estimated the total value of the crypto drained to be $16 million.

After draining the funds, the alleged attacker distributed them to multiple accounts. At the time of publication, Stake has not made an announcement regarding the suspicious withdrawals.

After publication, Stake confirmed the hack via social media. “Three hours ago, unauthorised tx’s were made from Stake’s ETH/BSC hot wallets” the team stated. “We are investigating and will get the wallets up as soon as they’re completely re-secured.” The team also claimed that “user funds are safe.” Stake co-founder Ed Craven clarified that “Stake keeps a small portion of its crypto reserves in hot wallets at any given moment for these very reasons,” implying that the losses are a small percentage of the total and will not affect users.

Related: Atomic Wallet faces lawsuit over $100M crypto hack losses: Report

Stake is a crypto gambling protocol that offers dice games, Blackjack, Lingo and other casino games, as well as sports betting for basketball, tennis, volleyball and others.

This is not the first time in 2023 that crypto gambling sites may have been targeted by hackers. On July 23, payments provider Alphapo suffered $31 million in suspicious withdrawals. Alphapo was a provider for several crypto-gambling sites, including Hypedrop, Bovada and Ignition.

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This is a developing story, and further information will be added as it becomes available.