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.",
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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...",
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    "https://www.coindesk.com/business/2024/05/03/exploiter-steals-68m-worth-of-crypto-through-address-poisoning",
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  "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>$4689,64</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>Cathie Wood's ARK Bets on Tokenization With a Stake in BlackRock-Backed Securitize</p><p><img alt=\"Ark Invest's Cathie Woods (Danny Nelson/CoinDesk)\" title=\"Ark Invest's Cathie Woods (Danny Nelson/CoinDesk)\" srcset=\"https://www.coindesk.com/_next/image?url=https%3A%2F%2Fcdn.sanity.io%2Fimages%2Fs3y3vcno%2Fproduction%2F340ef5bf4733bac7b1687aef57e5cadf230e5155-1920x1080.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%2F340ef5bf4733bac7b1687aef57e5cadf230e5155-1920x1080.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%2F340ef5bf4733bac7b1687aef57e5cadf230e5155-1920x1080.jpg%3Fauto%3Dformat&amp;w=3840&amp;q=75\" /></p><p>The ARK Venture Fund invested around $10 million in the tokenization specialist, according to CoinDesk's calculation.</p><div><p>What to know: </p><div><ul><li>ARK Invest has taken a stake in tokenization firm Securitize as part of its ARK Venture Fund.</li><li>The fund's investment in Securitize is valued at approximately $10 million, making it the eighth-largest position in the fund, per the fund's latest disclosure.</li><li>Tokenization of real-world assets is a fast-growing trend in finance, with the market doubling this year and projected to reach trillions this decade.</li></ul></div></div><p><a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https://www.coindesk.com/business/2025/10/06/cathie-wood-s-ark-bets-on-tokenization-with-a-stake-in-blackrock-backed-securitize\">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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