Deposits and withdrawals have reopened on the crypto betting platform Stake just five hours after it faced a significant security breach on 4 September. Hackers managed to siphon off $41.3 million in various cryptocurrencies, according to blockchain security companies.
Stake confirmed that all its services, including deposits and withdrawals, were back up and running.
Ed Craven, cofounder of Stake, said: “Shoutout to the team for such a quick turn around. Despite some dramatic headlines, as always Stake has everything under control”
A closer look at the hack
Stake halted withdrawals after unauthorised transactions were made from Stake’s Ethereum and BNB Chain hot wallets.
Blockchain security analysts quickly noticed suspicious outflows amounting to $41m. Etherscan, a popular Ethereum blockchain explorer, labelled the withdrawing account as “Stake.com Hacker,” suggesting that the funds might have been accessed using a stolen private key.
Similarly, blockchain security firm Peckshield sent out an alert on the social media platform X (formerly Twitter), telling Stake that it “may want to take a look”.
The breach began with a transaction on the Ethereum blockchain, where the attacker transferred around $3.9m in Tether from Stake to their account.
The subsequent transactions saw the removal of $9.8m in ETH, $1m in USD Coin, $900,000 in Dai, and $25,000 in Stake Classic (STAKE) tokens.
Once the funds were secured, the hacker distributed them across eight wallets. The security alert platform Cyvers said all of the exploited stable coins were converted to ETH and are being stored on externally owned accounts, wallets that are controlled by private keys.
Beosin, a smart contract auditor, said the attacker also targeted BNB Smart Chain and Polygon. Beosin’s report indicates losses of $7.8m on Polygon and a staggering $17.8m on BNB Chain, pushing the total losses past the $41m mark.
However, Stake claimed only its Ethereum and BNB Chain hot wallets were impacted. In a statement made soon after the breach, the betting platform said: “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.”
What is Stake?
Founded in 2017, Stake is an online casino, owned by Curaçao-based sports company Medium Rare NV. Stake describes itself as leading player in the crypto gambling industry, with over 500,000 registered users globally.
Apart from its core gambling services, Stake.com has sponsorship agreements with UFC, football teams, and other teams. The platform also has a co-title partnership agreement with the Alfa Romeo F1 Team and is the main partner of the Everton Football Club. Notably, global artist Drake is a member of the Stake community.
