The hack that put Stake Casino ETH and Binance Hot wallets on hold. FBI reveals that the culprits have been identified and caught.
On the 4th of September 2023, there was quite a stir as hackers managed to gain access to the crypto betting platform Stake Casino and carry out unauthorised transactions from its Ethereum and Binance smartchain hot wallets.
Stake Casino is one of the largest and most popular crypto gaming platforms known for its celebrity partnerships and exclusive sponsorships.
Despite the recent hack, the site stressed that user funds were safe during the incident. The hackers have since been identified.
Stake Casino hacked
On the day of the hack, Stake Casino tweeted to inform users that unauthorised transactions were made from their ETH and Binance smartchain hot wallets. In response, wallets were frozen and re-secured while an investigation was taking place.
While these hot wallets were under attack, other wallets like BTC, LTC, XRP, EOS, and TRX were still fully operational.
Read also: Our detailed guide on the safest online casinos .
It was revealed that there was a total loss of $41.35 million during the hack on these hot wallets.
A statement issued on X by Stake Casino made it clear that user funds were still safe and that other wallets were still operational. The Stake Casino co-founder Ed Craven stated that the crypto site keeps only a “small amount of its crypto reserves in the hot wallets for this very reason”.
Stake Casino hackers identified
The FBI was brought in to investigate and identified the North Korean Lazarus Group as the culprit behind the over $41 million Stake Casino hack .
The Federal Bureau of Investigation reported its own findings in a press release shortly after stating that the North Korean-funded Lazarus Group was responsible for the attack. There is currently no clarity on how the FBI came to this conclusion.
The announcement included a list of associated blockchain addresses. The FBI also encouraged the private sector entities to review the previously released Cyber Security Advisory on TraderTraitor and examine the blockchain data associated with the above-referenced virtual currency addresses. Furthermore, operators and users are encouraged to be more vigilant in guarding against transactions directly or derived from these specific addresses.
The fact of the matter is that Stake Casino got exploited for over $41 million from three different blockchains as hackers managed to get their hands on various assets using different addresses. They eventually sent large amounts to the Avalanche blockchain using bridges before converting synthetic BTCH to native BTC.
This conversion process has the potential to anonymise the transactions, which, at the end of the day, can make it more difficult to trace. If not caught in time, it would be impossible to catch the culprits in any Bitcoin casino .
Keeping users up to date
While some have been outraged that the Stake team has been rather quiet on the hack, others have been impressed with the quick response.
Stake Casino has been keeping users up to date with the latest news on the hack, giving feedback without creating more panic and not flooding pages with more information than necessary.
The team has provided the needed responses at the right time, stating that there has been a hack and that there is something being done about it. Furthermore, they made it clear that other crypto wallets are still secure and open for use.
In situations like this, an overflow of information can lead to even more panic, while too little information can lead to confusion. Information that is clear and concise, as Stake provided, gives you what you need to understand what is happening and wait for the next steps forward.
It was handled professionally and swiftly, which is a big plus when it comes to the uncertainty tied to the use of cryptocurrency.
The situation has since been resolved, and players can safely deposit and withdraw using their hot wallets at Stake Casino again.