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. 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>$3,125.57</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><div><p>Protocol Research: GoPlus Security</p></div><div><figure><img alt=\"GP Basic Image\" srcset=\"https://www.coindesk.com/_next/image?url=https%3A%2F%2Fcdn.sanity.io%2Fimages%2Fs3y3vcno%2Fproduction%2F84a8eb9a12b91c3b7656ac7b18dcf5f1e79f21e2-3840x2160.png%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%2F84a8eb9a12b91c3b7656ac7b18dcf5f1e79f21e2-3840x2160.png%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%2F84a8eb9a12b91c3b7656ac7b18dcf5f1e79f21e2-3840x2160.png%3Fauto%3Dformat&amp;w=3840&amp;q=75\" /></figure><div><p>What to know: </p><div><ul><li>As of October 2025, GoPlus has generated $4.7M in total revenue across its product lines. The GoPlus App is the primary revenue driver, contributing $2.5M (approx. 53%), followed by the SafeToken Protocol at $1.7M.</li><li>GoPlus Intelligence's Token Security API averaged 717 million monthly calls year-to-date in 2025 , with a peak of nearly 1 billion calls in February 2025. Total blockchain-level requests, including transaction simulations, averaged an additional 350 million per month.</li><li>Since its January 2025 launch , the $GPS token has registered over $5B in total spot volume and $10B in derivatives volume in 2025. Monthly spot volume peaked in March 2025 at over $1.1B , while derivatives volume peaked the same month at over $4B.</li></ul></div></div><p><a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https://www.coindesk.com/research/protocol-research-goplus-security\">View Full Report<svg width=\"21\" height=\"21\"></svg></a></p></div></div></div><div><p>More For You</p><div><p>Anchorage Digital Buys Securitize’s RIA Platform to Expand Wealth Management Business</p><figure><img alt=\"Scattered pile of $1 bills (Gerd Altmann/Pixabay, modified by CoinDesk)\" srcset=\"https://www.coindesk.com/_next/image?url=https%3A%2F%2Fcdn.sanity.io%2Fimages%2Fs3y3vcno%2Fproduction%2F2bb99ef791db1603a7268017479b6182f3952bc2-1920x1080.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%2F2bb99ef791db1603a7268017479b6182f3952bc2-1920x1080.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%2F2bb99ef791db1603a7268017479b6182f3952bc2-1920x1080.jpg%3Fauto%3Dformat&amp;w=3840&amp;q=75\" /></figure><p>The bank has bought the Securitize For Advisors unit, bringing the RIA-focused crypto wealth management platform in-house.</p><div><p>What to know: </p><div><ul><li>Anchorage Digital acquired Securitize For Advisors (SFA), a crypto platform for RIAs.</li><li>The deal consolidates an existing custody relationship, with 99% of SFA assets held at Anchorage.</li><li>Securitize will refocus on tokenization as Anchorage expands its wealth management offering.</li></ul></div></div><p><a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https://www.coindesk.com/business/2025/12/15/anchorage-digital-buys-securitize-s-ria-platform-to-expand-wealth-management-business\">Read full story<svg width=\"21\" height=\"21\"></svg></a></p></div></div>",
  "author": "@coindesk",
  "favicon": "https://www.coindesk.com/favicons/production/favicon-32x32.png",
  "source": "coindesk.com",
  "published": "2024-05-03t14:07:07.117z",
  "ttr": 76,
  "type": "newsarticle"
}