Exploiter Steals $68M Worth of Crypto Through Address Poisoning

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  "title": "Exploiter Steals $68M Worth of Crypto Through Address Poisoning",
  "type": "story",
  "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",
  "logo": null,
  "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. 1 min readMake  preferred on A user unintentionally sent 1,155 wrapped bitcoin to an...",
  "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/"
  ],
  "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><span>1 min read</span></p><p><a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https://www.google.com/preferences/source?q=coindesk.com\">Make <svg width=\"83\" height=\"16\"></svg> preferred on <svg width=\"51\" height=\"20\"></svg></a></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 {{ETH}} 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><a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https://www.coindesk.com/business/2026/06/02/moneygram-launches-stablecoin-on-stellar-joining-rush-toward-digital-dollar-payments\"><figure><img alt=\"MoneyGram money transfer kiosk in a retail setting, San Ramon, California, March 26, 2019. (Photo by Smith Collection/Gado/Getty Images)\" srcset=\"https://www.coindesk.com/_next/image?url=https%3A%2F%2Fcdn.sanity.io%2Fimages%2Fs3y3vcno%2Fproduction%2F779fa847dfa0e81ae3f5f0cb8cae4125d96accc2-594x446.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%2F779fa847dfa0e81ae3f5f0cb8cae4125d96accc2-594x446.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%2F779fa847dfa0e81ae3f5f0cb8cae4125d96accc2-594x446.jpg%3Fauto%3Dformat&amp;w=3840&amp;q=75\" /></figure></a><p>MGUSD, issued by Stripe's Bridge, will power services across MoneyGram's global network as stablecoins gain traction in cross-border payments.</p><div><p>What to know: </p><div><ul><li>MoneyGram announced it launched its U.S. dollar-backed stablecoin MGUSD on the Stellar blockchain on Tuesday.</li><li>The token will first be available for U.S. users with plans for global rollout across the firm's 60 million customers as stablecoins increasingly compete in cross-border payments.</li><li>MGUSD is issued by Stripe-owned Bridge, with smart...</li></ul></div></div><p><a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https://www.coindesk.com/business/2026/06/02/moneygram-launches-stablecoin-on-stellar-joining-rush-toward-digital-dollar-payments\">Read full story<svg width=\"21\" height=\"21\"></svg></a></p></div></div>",
  "author": "@coindesk",
  "favicon": "https://www.coindesk.com/favicons/production/android-chrome-512x512.png",
  "source": "coindesk.com",
  "published": "2024-05-03T14:07:07.117Z",
  "ttr": 53,
  "type": "newsarticle"
}