Crypto casino Metawin loses $4 million to exploit of Ethereum, Solana hot wallets

Quick Take

  • The crypto casino Metawin was drained of about $4 million in tokens after hackers exploited its withdrawal system to attack the protocol’s hot wallets on Ethereum and Solana. 
  • Metawin has restored access, backfilled the stolen funds, and contacted law enforcement, according to its CEO. 

An exploiter managed to steal a significant amount of tokens from crypto casino Metawin's Ethereum and Solana hot wallets by exploiting the protocol's "frictionless withdrawal system," Metawin CEO Richard "Skel" Skelhorn announced early on Sunday. 

Blockchain sleuth ZachXBT, alongside Skelhorn, pegged the amount stolen to over $4 million with 115 theft addresses tied to the exploit, implying some level of technical competence on the part of the hacker. "So far the stolen funds have been transferred to Kucoin and a HitBTC nested service," ZachXBT noted

While Metawin's withdrawals were temporarily disabled, they've since been re-enabled according to an update from Skelhorn on Discord. Skelhorn also noted that the authorities had been contacted. 

"We’re not gonna dwell on it. 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's update states. In an earlier message, Skelhorn implied he covered for the hack with own funds, writing, "I just emptied my piggy bank, we don’t dwell on it. We keep building." 

This is a developing story.


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About Author

Zack Abrams is a writer and editor based in Brooklyn, New York. Before coming to The Block, he was the Head Writer at Coinage, a Web3 media outlet covering the biggest stories in Web3. The story he co-reported on Do Kwon won a 2022 Best in Business Journalism award from SABEW. Other projects included a deep dive into SBF's defense based on exclusive documents and unveiling the identity of the hacker behind one of 2023's biggest crypto hacks — so far. He can be reached via X @zackdabrams or email, [email protected].