Stake.com is an online Gambling casino that uses cryptocurrency for transactions and funds. On September 4, 2023, the interface was reportedly hacked and $41.3 million was stolen from the account, as per multiple sources.
According to web3 Security Firm Cyvers, the funds were drawn from Ethereum, Polygon, and the Binance Smart Chain through a “private key leak.” The stolen amounts were then converted to Ether (ETH) and put into several external accounts not registered on the platform, as per CoinDesk.
The website has reassured users that the amount withdrawn would not be a problem for them. Stake’s co-founder said that the company keeps a small portion of currency as “crypto reserves in hot wallets” so they are always prepared for emergencies, as per CoinTelegraph. However, netizens are skeptical about the hack, with many hoping that the funds are eventually recovered.
How Stake got snubbed out of $41 million
Stake.com is an Australian-Curaçaoan online cryptocurrency-based casino operated by Medium Rare NV. The website provides dice games, Blackjack, Lingo, and other casino games for their users, and people can also dabble in sports betting for basketball, tennis, and volleyball among others.
As reported by the Financial Times, the gambling company made $2.6 billion in revenue last year. This Monday, the website was hacked by an anonymous account, that has been dubbed “Stake.com Hacker” by Etherscan. It must be noted that the account shows no activities before the hack.
News of the hack was first reported by Web3 security firm Cyvers, as per Decrypto. Soon after, the gambling website also released a statement confirming the same:
“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.”
It must be noted that the gambling website also provides various security measures to ward off such hackers. It uses encrypted data systems like 2FA, a stringent password policy, frequent security audits, and other technologies to secure users’ data and financial transactions.
The interface also provides disclaimers to its audience to avoid high-risk games which could make them more vulnerable to hacks.
The anonymous account responsible for the hacks reportedly withdrew large amounts of cryptocurrency from Stake.com contracts, as per Blockchain data. Coin Telegraph reported that the first amount taken on Ethereum was approximately $3.9 million stablecoin Tether from the gambling website to the hacker’s account at 12:48 pm.
The next transaction removed about $9.8 million, taken in 6,001 Ether. USD Coin worth 1 million and 333 Classic Stake was also taken, as per the Coin Telegraph.
As per Cyvers, the hacker took $15.7 million from Ethereum and approximately $25.6 million was withdrawn from Polygon and the Binance Smart Chain, totaling $41.3 million.
According to CoinDesk, the wallet from the gambling website was not dried out of all its money. The account still has $340,000 worth of Ethereum cryptocurrency left and about $2.1 million in other altcoins.
The cryptocurrency industry lost about $3.7 billion to hackers and other black market agencies in 2022, although the number has significantly come down to about 70% for the first half of this year.
According to media outlets, no culprit for the recent has been caught yet but investigation into the matter is currently ongoing.
