Stake.com, a well-known online casino and sportsbook founded in 2017 by Bijan Tehrani and Ed Craven, has put a temporary hold on withdrawals after becoming the target of an alleged $40 million security breach.

The issue was first brought to light by security firm Cyvers. The firm detected abnormal transfers moving away from Stake.com’s Ethereum wallets to unidentified addresses.

The AI system of Cyvers flagged multiple suspicious transactions involving various stablecoins like Ethereum, USD Coin, Tether, and DAI. These stablecoins were apparently later converted into Ethereum and distributed to different externally owned accounts. Etherscan, the Ethereum blockchain explorer, has since identified the address linked to these unauthorized transactions as belonging to a hacker targeting Stake.com.

Another security firm, Peckshield, also alerted its social media followers, suggesting that Stake.com should investigate the situation.

ZachXBT, a renowned on-chain analyst, confirmed that around $40 million had been illicitly moved across multiple blockchain networks, including Ethereum, Polygon, and Binance Smart Chain.

This $41.3 million amount was shortly thereafter confirmed by blockchain security firm Beosin:

In response to the unfolding situation, Stake.com reassured its users through a post on X (formerly known as Twitter) that their users’ funds are safe. The company stated that unauthorized transactions had occurred from their Ethereum and Binance Smart Chain hot wallets and that they were in the process of re-securing these wallets. They also mentioned that wallets for other all other cryptocurrencies, such as Bitcoin, Litecoin, XRP, EOS, and TRON are still fully functional.

About an hour later, Ed Craven, Australia’s youngest billionaire and co-founder of Stake.com, also posted on X. He stated that the company keeps only a small fraction of its crypto reserves in hot wallets for such emergencies and assured that the affected wallets would be operational soon.

Important Update at 9:25 p.m. UTC on 4 September 2023

Featured Image Via Midjourney