Hackers Steal $41 Million from Crypto Gambling Site Stake.com

Popular crypto gambling site Stake.com is the latest target of hackers. The site is reported to have lost an eye-watering $41.3 million worth of funds from “suspicious outflows” from its wallets across multiple blockchains on September 4. 

Blockchain data reveals substantial transfers from Stake.com contracts to the attacker’s account, commencing with a $3.9 million Tether transaction at 12:48 p.m. on Ethereum. Subsequent transactions included the removal of 6,001 Ether valued at approximately $9.8 million, followed by withdrawals of $1 million in USD Coin, $900,000 worth of Dai, and 333 Stake Classic (STAKE) tokens valued at $75.48 each, totaling an estimated $16 million.

Analysts say that the attack appears to be the result of a compromised private key.

“It was definitely a private key that was compromised. If you look at the DAI transfer transaction, there was “uint was = allowed uint (-1)” which could have only been possible if the private key was compromised” – analysis by @0xArhat 🫡 https://t.co/KHYgf5xklg pic.twitter.com/42r1ODCmQx

— Officer's Notes (@officer_cia) September 4, 2023

The alleged attacker then distributed the stolen funds across multiple accounts. Stake publicly acknowledged the hack on social media, stating that unauthorized transactions occurred in their ETH/BSC hot wallets. 

Three hours ago, unauthorised tx’s were made from Stake’s ETH/BSC hot wallets.

We are investigating and will get the wallets up as soon as they’re completely re-secured.

User funds are safe.

BTC, LTC, XRP, EOS, TRX + all other wallets remain fully operational.

— Stake.com (@Stake) September 4, 2023

They assured users that their funds remained secure and explained that they maintain a small portion of crypto reserves in hot wallets for operational reasons. But not everyone is buying the hack (or “hack,” to mirror Parrot Capital on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter).

🚨STAKE HACK🚨

DO NOT USE STAKE!@Stake just got hacked (or "hacked") for $41M. Listen to liars like #BitBoy or other #influencers and you'll lose your life savings.

Besides shilling #Stakecom, Ben Armstrong has promoted scams like $FTT, $TRX, only to delete the videos later. pic.twitter.com/3xqAkyI18J

— Parrot Capital 🦜 (@ParrotCapital) September 4, 2023

According to Coin Telegraph, smart contract auditor Beosin reported similar attacks on other chains, including BNB Smart Chain (BSC) and Polygon, resulting in additional losses of $7.8 million on Polygon and $17.8 million on BSC. This brings the total losses to more than $41 million.

Notably, this incident follows a pattern in 2023 where crypto gambling sites have been targeted by hackers, with Alphapo, a payments provider for several such sites, experiencing $31 million in suspicious withdrawals in July. That attack has since been attributed to the North Korean hacker cell Lazarus.

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Information for this story was found via Unusual Whales, Coin Telegraph, X/Twitter, and the sources and companies mentioned. The author has no securities or affiliations related to the organizations discussed. Not a recommendation to buy or sell. Always do additional research and consult a professional before purchasing a security. The author holds no licenses.