The online casino and sportsbook is the latest to suffer a cyberattack this year
On-chain analyst Cyvers and blockchain researcher ZachXBT reported on September 4 that Stake, the world’s biggest Australian cryptocurrency sportsbook and casino platform, was targeted in a cyberattack, where it lost over $41 million in cryptocurrencies. Cyvers alerted Stake.com users to news of the incident and the unauthorized draining of funds in a post on X.
Cyvers has called the hack a suspicious outflow of funds, with most of it sent to an account named ‘Stake.com Hacker.’ After further investigation, it was disclosed that a leaked private key led to the withdrawals. Stake.com also confirmed the breach, saying unauthorized transactions had been made from its hot wallets.
Etherscan reported that the first transfer to the alleged hacker’s wallet was at 12:48 PM when $3.9 million worth of Tether was removed, followed by two more transactions taking 6,001 Ethereum. For the next few minutes, tokens continued to be drawn, with another $1 million in USD coins taken. In total, $16 million in Ethereum, $7.8 million in Polygon, and $17.8 million across the Binance Smart Chain was stolen.
After hackers converted the stolen funds to Ether, they transferred them to numerous external wallets. The casino was left with $340,000 worth of Ether and $2.1 million in additional altcoins. All deposits and withdrawals were suspended by Stake, meaning most users were not able to access their funds. However, Stake.com has since resumed its operations.
Stake.com is a popular betting platform, reporting $2.6 billion in revenues last year, where users can deposit and play with cryptocurrencies. The incident is another big blow to the casino and cryptocurrency industry, highlighting its cybercrime vulnerability. Over $3.7 billion worth of crypto was lost in various exploits and hacks in 2022.
Emma Rodriguez is the Proofreader at the Big Blind, with seven years of experience and five years in online gambling. She plays a crucial role in maintaining content quality by ensuring error-free, reader-friendly information about the gambling industry.
