Exploiter Steals $68M Worth of Crypto Through Address Poisoning

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  "title": "Exploiter Steals $68M Worth of Crypto Through Address Poisoning",
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  "url": "https://www.coindesk.com/business/2024/05/03/exploiter-steals-68m-worth-of-crypto-through-address-poisoning/"
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{
  "author": "Oliver Knight",
  "date": "2024-05-03T14:13:48.835Z",
  "description": "A cryptocurrency user has lost $68 million worth of wrapped bitcoin (WBTC) after falling victim to an “address poisoning” exploit, according to blockchain security firm CertiK.",
  "image": "https://cdn.sanity.io/images/s3y3vcno/production/6923046d9a52fac72269f7dd0d26ff84da658711-3240x1823.jpg?auto=format&w=960&h=540&crop=focalpoint&fit=clip&q=75&fm=jpg",
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  "publisher": "CoinDesk",
  "title": "Exploiter Steals $68M Worth of Crypto Through Address Poisoning",
  "url": "https://www.coindesk.com/business/2024/05/03/exploiter-steals-68m-worth-of-crypto-through-address-poisoning"
}

{
  "url": "https://www.coindesk.com/business/2024/05/03/exploiter-steals-68m-worth-of-crypto-through-address-poisoning",
  "title": "Exploiter Steals $68M Worth of Crypto Through Address Poisoning",
  "description": "The victim was duped by a mimicked 0.05 ether transfer.Updated May 3, 2024, 2:13 p.m. Published May 3, 2024, 2:07 p.m. A user unintentionally sent 1,155 wrapped bitcoin to an exploiter's wallet after being...",
  "links": [
    "https://www.coindesk.com/business/2024/05/03/exploiter-steals-68m-worth-of-crypto-through-address-poisoning",
    "https://www.coindesk.com/business/2024/05/03/exploiter-steals-68m-worth-of-crypto-through-address-poisoning/"
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  "image": "https://cdn.sanity.io/images/s3y3vcno/production/6923046d9a52fac72269f7dd0d26ff84da658711-3240x1823.jpg?auto=format&w=960&h=540&crop=focalpoint&fit=clip&q=75&fm=jpg",
  "content": "<div><h2>The victim was duped by a mimicked 0.05 ether transfer.</h2><p><span>Updated May 3, 2024, 2:13 p.m. </span><span>Published May 3, 2024, 2:07 p.m. </span></p></div><div><ul><li>A user unintentionally sent 1,155 wrapped bitcoin to an exploiter's wallet after being targeted by address poisoning.</li><li>The scam has been confirmed by various blockchain security firms.</li></ul><hr /><p>A cryptocurrency user has lost $68 million worth of wrapped bitcoin (WBTC) after falling victim to an address poisoning exploit, according to <a href=\"https://twitter.com/CertiKAlert/status/1786378165050306774\" target=\"_blank\">blockchain security firm CertiK</a>.</p><p>Address poisoning is a technique that involves tricking the victim into sending a legitimate transaction to the wrong wallet address by mimicking the first and last six characters of the true wallet address and depending on the sender to miss the discrepancy in the intervening characters. Wallet addresses can be as long as 42 characters.</p><p>In this case, the exploiter mimicked a 0.05 ether <span><a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https://www.coindesk.com/price/ethereum\"><span><span><span>ETH</span><span><svg height=\"24\" width=\"25\"></svg></span><span>$4,166.40</span></span></span></a></span> transaction before receiving 1,155 WBTC from the victim.</p><p>Security platform <a href=\"https://twitter.com/CyversAlerts/status/1786363410243858869\" target=\"_blank\">Cyvers</a> and blockchain sleuth <a href=\"https://t.me/investigations/114\" target=\"_blank\">ZachXBT</a> confirmed that $68 million had been lost to an address poisoning scam.</p><p>Crypto investors <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https://www.coindesk.com/tech/2023/12/27/crypto-users-lost-2b-to-hacks-scams-and-exploits-in-2023-defi-says/\">lost $2 billion to hacks</a>, scams and exploits across decentralized finance (DeFi) in 2023 and an additional <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https://www.coindesk.com/video/crypto-lost-dollar333m-to-hacks-in-q1-of-2024-immunefi/\">$333 million was stolen</a> in the first quarter.</p></div><div><p>More For You</p><div><p>Strategy Bought $27M in Bitcoin at $123K Before Crypto Crash</p><p><img alt=\"MicroStrategy Executive Chairman Michael Saylor (Danny Nelson/CoinDesk)\" title=\"MicroStrategy Executive Chairman Michael Saylor (Danny Nelson/CoinDesk)\" srcset=\"https://www.coindesk.com/_next/image?url=https%3A%2F%2Fcdn.sanity.io%2Fimages%2Fs3y3vcno%2Fproduction%2F4c880d91609e495c17f244eb3774e6f7e006ea2c-1920x1079.jpg%3Fauto%3Dformat&amp;w=1920&amp;q=75 1x, https://www.coindesk.com/_next/image?url=https%3A%2F%2Fcdn.sanity.io%2Fimages%2Fs3y3vcno%2Fproduction%2F4c880d91609e495c17f244eb3774e6f7e006ea2c-1920x1079.jpg%3Fauto%3Dformat&amp;w=3840&amp;q=75 2x\" src=\"https://www.coindesk.com/_next/image?url=https%3A%2F%2Fcdn.sanity.io%2Fimages%2Fs3y3vcno%2Fproduction%2F4c880d91609e495c17f244eb3774e6f7e006ea2c-1920x1079.jpg%3Fauto%3Dformat&amp;w=3840&amp;q=75\" /></p><p>The firm acquired BTC at an average price of over $123,000, while the crypto was trading well below $110,000 during last week's carnage.</p><div><p>What to know: </p><div><ul><li>Strategy purchased 220 BTC at an average price of $123,561, missing the opportunity to buy during a market dip.</li><li>The company raised $27.3 million by selling preferred stocks to fund the purchase.</li><li>Strategy's total bitcoin holdings now stand at 640,250 BTC, with an average acquisition price of $73,000.</li></ul></div></div><p><a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https://www.coindesk.com/business/2025/10/13/strategy-bought-usd27m-in-bitcoin-at-usd123k-before-crypto-crash\">Read full story<svg width=\"21\" height=\"21\"></svg></a></p></div></div>",
  "author": "@coindesk",
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  "source": "coindesk.com",
  "published": "2024-05-03t14:07:07.117z",
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