Stake Hacked for $41 Million

On September 4, 2023, approximately $41 million was withdrawn from Stake's hot wallets. The funds were transferred across the Ethereum, Polygon, and BNB Smart Chain networks.

The FBI later officially stated that the Lazarus Group, a hacking group associated with North Korea, was behind the attack. In 2023 alone, this group stole over $200 million from crypto platforms.

What's important for players: user balances were not affected, the platform continued to operate without interruption, and payouts were not frozen. The company covered the loss from its own funds. This is the only major incident in its eight years of operation, and the reaction to it was exactly as it should be.

However, the general takeaway from this story for the entire industry is that crypto casinos keep money in hot wallets, and this remains a systemic risk. Storing large sums on a gaming balance is a bad idea on any platform.