$4m stolen by hackers at crypto casino MetaWin
A crypto casino has been hit by hackers, who made off with around $4 billion in the attack.
The MetaWin crypto casino was targeted with hackers exploiting a vulnerability in the system.
Richard “Skel” Skelhorn, the chief executive of the crypto casino, explained that the site’s “frictionless withdrawal system” created a weakness that was used by the hackers.
In an attempt to offer a simple user experience for withdrawing winnings out of their accounts at the casino, MetaWin had enabled hackers to break in and make off with millions of dollars.
MetaWin quickly moved to suspend all withdrawals as soon as the attack had been spotted.
It said this would prevent further losses and tried to reassure crypto casinos that corrective action was underway, with Skelhorn stating that the stolen funds were “topped off”.
Blockchain investigator ZachXBT, who has worked on tracking down thefts from crypto casinos in the past, teamed up with Skelhorn in an attempt to identify the hackers involved.
Funds that were stolen from the MetaWin crypto casino were found to have been transferred to Kucoin, as well as a nested service on HitBTC, therefore hiding the trail of the snatched cash.
ZachXBT found that over 115 Ethereum and Solana wallet addresses were associated with the attacker, suggesting that the hit on MetaWin could have been a coordinated move from hackers.
Writing in a post on Discord, Skelhorn took a defiant tone in the wake of the crypto casino hack.
“We’re not gonna dwell on it,” he said. “It’s in the hands of the feds now, and we will make some internal adjustments to keep the players happy but the bad actors at bay.”
Skelhorn later suggested he had made a financial commitment out of his own pocket, adding: “I just emptied my piggy bank, we don’t dwell on it. We keep building.”
Law enforcement authorities have also been contacted by MetaWin in a bid to solve the crime, with the crypto casino quickly able to allow the vast majority of its users to withdraw once more.
Hackers often target crypto casinos and associated sites, exploiting back-end system weaknesses to make off with funds.
A couple of weeks ago, the Binance-backed blockchain protocol Radiant Capital was the victim of a major crypto heist, losing more than $50 million in total. The Lottie Player animation library, which is used by platforms such as 1inch and TEN Finance, has also been targeted by hackers.
