Crypto casino Stake hacked for over $40 million

Attackers managed to make transactions from hot wallets operated by the Stake betting platform, stealing approximately $15.7 million from their Ethereum wallet and around $25.6 million from BSC and Polygon. Blockchain analysis project Cyvers attributed the theft to a private key leak, though Stake co-founder Edward Craven later denied that. Craven claimed that the attack was achieved through a "sophisticated breach" targeting a service the company uses to approve transactions.

Stake acknowledged the attack on their Twitter account, writing that "We are investigating and will get the wallets up as soon as they're completely re-secured."

Stake is an Australia-based cryptocurrency casino and sports betting platform that has enjoyed endorsements from various celebrities, and which shelled out $100 million in 2022 for an endorsement deal with Drake.

On September 6, the FBI announced that they believed the Lazarus Group was behind the theft. Lazarus is a group of North Korean state-sponsored hackers allegedly responsible for crypto hacks totaling hundreds of millions of dollars.