Address Poisoning Scam: One Copy-Paste Mistake Cost a Crypto Trader $50 Million

A cryptocurrency user has lost nearly $50 million due to a costly mistake caused by copying a spoofed address and trusting visual similarity. According to the Lookonchain update, the victim copied the wrong wallet address when he made the crypto transfer.

How attacker exploited "common mistake"

Notably, the victim had done a test run of $50 to his address, which allowed the scammer to spoof the wallet. The exploiter used the same first and last four characters to perform a "poison attack."

The attack exploited common wallet interfaces that shorten addresses for easy readability.

The spoofed address, which the attacker created, was what the victim mistakenly copied and proceeded to transfer the remaining full $49,999,950. The trap that the attacker set worked, leading to the loss of the funds, as blockchain transactions are irreversible.

This incident emphasizes the need for users to always verify the full address, not just the first and last sets of characters. This is because address poisoning scams have increased significantly in 2025, with malicious attackers looking to exploit any mistakes made by wallet owners.

Experts have always advised against "copy and paste" of addresses from one’s transaction history for convenience.

Such a move could lead to lifting a spoofed address and sending the funds to a different location. Hence, users are cautioned to always pause and verify all transfers at least twice, particularly those involving large sums.

Can collaborative effort curb online exploits?

Some members of the online community have advocated that the crypto sector should normalize smart contracts and whitelist addresses. They also canvassed the need for more awareness campaigns that would constantly educate users about this vulnerability.

Earlier in May 2025, leading exchange Coinbase teamed up with law enforcement authorities to prevent spoofing schemes meant to manipulate the market. As highlighted by Coinbase’s Chief Legal Officer Paul Grewal, the spoofing scheme was led by one Chirag Tomar, who had stolen over $20 million from users.

Tomar impersonated the Coinbase exchange and sent fake emails to unsuspecting users and faked official communication to defraud victims. The incident shows the power of collaborative efforts in tackling scams in the crypto industry.

Generally, these malicious actors look for ways to exploit legitimate offers and clone them to trick users.

It might explain the reason Binance, in its recent Dubai event, issued a crucial update to users. It cautioned users against clicking on any link that is not the official Binance Live broadcast channel. The advice was to protect them from falling prey to malicious attackers.

According to the event listing, Builder Night in Gangnam is an off-the-record gathering for teams working at the intersection of AI, Web3, and stablecoins, with participants including BNB Chain ecosystem projects. Mechanically, this is a networking and deal-making event rather than a formal product launch, but such closed-door sessions often precede public announcements on partnerships, liquidity programs, and new protocol experiments. For BNB, IOTA and the other related assets, traders should monitor post-event social updates and disclosures, as any revealed integrations or incentive schemes could trigger short-term narrative trades and volume spikes.

Gate is hosting an AMA with KodiakFi, described as the native liquidity platform on Berachain, with a $200 KDK reward pool for participants, according to the event post. Mechanically, this is a promotional AMA aimed at introducing Kodiak and KDK to Gate’s audience, driving social engagement and incentivizing users with small token rewards. While no listing or structural token changes are confirmed, exposure via a major exchange’s channels can boost short-term visibility, attract new users to the DEX, and increase speculative trading interest in KDK around the AMA time window.

BitMart will host a holiday AMA with Nexora and Phil AI Mining on X, with live crypto rewards distributed to participants, as detailed in the official announcement. Mechanically, this is a marketing and community engagement event, giving Nexora’s team a platform to recap 2025, outline roadmap priorities, and highlight any upcoming utility, partnerships, or exchange-related initiatives. While there is no explicit listing or tokenomic change mentioned, such AMAs can temporarily increase awareness, social metrics, and speculative interest in NEX, so traders may watch for new information drops or incentive campaigns revealed during the session.

Bitcoin’s price has been volatile, but the bigger story right now isn’t the chart. It’s who’s buying and at what levels.

New on-chain data shows that nearly 50% of Bitcoin’s realized cap now comes from new whale buyers, a sharp break from how past Bitcoin cycles played out.

Realized cap tracks the value of Bitcoin at the price each coin last moved on-chain. So when new whales approach a 50% share, it means half of the capital invested in Bitcoin was formed at recent price levels, not during early low-cost accumulation phases.

New Whales Are Playing a Different Game

According to the data, these new whales are mainly institutions and ETFs buying Bitcoin at higher prices and in larger volumes. That alone sets them apart from long-term holders who accumulated cheaply and sold into strength during previous bull runs.

More importantly, their behavior during pullbacks looks different.

This should not be interpreted as a short-term bullish or bearish signal, but as evidence that the structure of the Bitcoin market itself is changing, the report adds.

Since the start of December, the Bitcoin price has largely traded sideways, oscillating between roughly $85,000 and $90,000, with no sustained follow-through on either breakouts or breakdowns. Daily ranges have narrowed, and volatility has continued to compress, signalling a market stuck in balance rather than a trend. While this calm price action may appear stable on the surface, it has created conditions where positioning and demand dynamics carry more weight. 

As volatility remains subdued, shifts in trader behaviour and underlying demand are becoming increasingly important in determining how the BTC price reacts once this range finally breaks.

Bitcoin Long Position Rising—Have Traders Turned Optimistic?

Bitcoin longs, where the traders bet on the rising BTC price over time, highlight the growing confidence in the crypto. A massive rise was recorded at the beginning of 2022, which elevated the BTC price from its historical lows close to $15,000. Currently, the longs appear to be stronger than before, as they have reached a 22-week high. This tells us that traders are increasingly positioning for upside in anticipation, rather than in response to confirmed price strength.