Crypto trader loses $50 million in address poisoning attack, offers $1 million bounty for return

The Block

A crypto trader lost nearly $50 million in USDT stablecoins after falling victim to an address poisoning attack, a seemingly simple scheme that nonetheless sometimes snags unwary traders, according to security firms.

Onchain analytics platform Lookonchain reported that the victim sent 49,999,950 USDT to a scammer-controlled address on December 20. The attack unfolded after the victim had withdrawn the funds from Binance and attempted to transfer them to their own wallet.

Following standard practice, the victim first sent a small test transaction of 50 USDT to their intended destination address. However, an automated script controlled by the attacker immediately generated a "spoofed" wallet address designed to match the victim's legitimate address at the beginning and end of the alphanumeric string.

The malicious address shared the same first five and last four characters as the victim's intended recipient. The key differences appeared only in the middle characters, which many wallet interfaces obscure with ellipses for readability. The scammer then sent small transactions from the spoofed address to the victim's wallet, effectively "poisoning" their transaction history. When the victim later copied an address from their history to execute the full $50 million transfer, they likely unknowingly selected the attacker's lookalike address instead.

Etherscan data shows the test transaction occurred at 3:06 UTC, with the erroneous $50 million transfer following approximately 26 minutes later at 3:32 UTC.

The attacker moved quickly to launder the stolen funds, per SlowMist. Within 30 minutes of receiving the USDT, the scammer swapped the entire sum to DAI via MetaMask Swap—a strategic move since Tether can freeze USDT in flagged wallets, while the decentralized DAI stablecoin lacks such centralized controls. The attacker then converted the DAI into approximately 16,690 ETH and deposited around 16,680 ETH into Tornado Cash, the once-sanctioned cryptocurrency mixer, to obscure the transaction trail.

In an attempt to recover the funds, the victim sent an onchain message to the attacker offering a $1 million whitehat bounty in exchange for the return of 98% of the stolen assets.

"We have officially filed a criminal case. With the assistance of law enforcement, cybersecurity agencies, and multiple blockchain protocols, we have already gathered substantial and actionable intelligence regarding your activities," the onchain message states.

The loss echoes a similar incident in May 2024, when an Ethereum user lost $71 million worth of wrapped bitcoin to an address poisoning attack. In that case, The Block reported that the victim eventually recovered nearly all available funds following onchain negotiations facilitated by blockchain cybersecurity firm Match Systems and the Cryptex exchange. Whether the latest victim will achieve a similar outcome remains uncertain given the rapid movement of funds into Tornado Cash.

2025 sees over $3.4 billion in crypto thefts

Casa co-founder and Chief Security Officer Jameson Lopp warned in April that address poisoning attacks were proliferating across blockchains. In an analysis covered by The Block, Lopp identified 48,000 suspected address poisoning attacks on Bitcoin alone since 2023. He suggested wallet developers could implement warnings for similar-looking addresses to mitigate the risk.

"I think it would be easy for wallets to say 'Oh, this came from a similar looking address,' and throw up a big red flag: do not interact," Lopp said at the time.

The incident adds to what has been a record year for cryptocurrency theft. Chainalysis reported that crypto losses exceeded $3.4 billion in 2025, up from $3.38 billion in 2024. The February hack of Bybit exchange by North Korean threat actors, which saw $1.4 billion stolen, accounted for approximately 44% of the annual total and was described by Elliptic as "the largest crypto theft of all time."

Disclaimer: The Block is an independent media outlet that delivers news, research, and data. As of November 2023, Foresight Ventures is a majority investor of The Block. Foresight Ventures invests in other companies in the crypto space. Crypto exchange Bitget is an anchor LP for Foresight Ventures. The Block continues to operate independently to deliver objective, impactful, and timely information about the crypto industry. Here are our current financial disclosures.

Risk Warnings and Disclaimers

You understand and acknowledge that there is a high degree of risk involved in trading. Following any strategies or investment methods may lead to potential losses. The content on the site is provided by our contributors and analysts for information purposes only. You are solely responsible for determining whether any trading assets, securities, strategy, or any other product is suitable for investing based on your own investment objectives and financial situation.

Add to Favorites

Bitcoin’s Cost Base Resets As New Whales Take The Lead

NewsBTC

According to onchain data, Bitcoin may be moving into a different phase of market participation rather than simply hitting a classic cycle top or bottom.

New, large entrants are paying higher prices and holding on, and that change is reshaping where the network’s cost base sits. This is not just a short blip; the pattern has several clear data points behind it.

New Whales Rewrite The Network Cost Base

According to CryptoQuant figures, addresses classified as new whales now account for almost 50% of Bitcoin’s realized cap. Before 2025, that share rarely rose above 22%.

Realized cap tracks the value of BTC at the price each coin last moved, so this shift shows where capital entered the system, not just who currently holds the most coins.

Reports say the realized cap share from new whales continued to climb even during pullbacks, which suggests the network’s aggregate cost basis is being re-anchored at higher levels.

Short-Term Demand Surges As Larger Players Buy Dips

Short-term holder supply expanded by roughly 100,000 BTC over a 30-day span, reaching an all-time high, according to analysts. That jump in STH supply points to intense demand at the near-term level.

Based on exchange flows, about 37% of BTC sent to Binance came from whale-size wallets, defined in the data set as holdings between 1,000–10,000 BTC.

Reports from Hyblock show the cumulative volume delta for whale wallets — those in the $100,000–$10 million range — posted a positive $135 million delta this week.

In contrast, retail wallets ($0–$10,000) and mid-size traders ($10,000–$100,000) logged negative deltas of $84 million and $172 million, respectively. In short: larger players absorbed selling pressure while smaller holders reduced their exposure.Derivatives Point To Short-Term Risk

Price action was sharp. Bitcoin rose to $88,000 from $85,100 in about five hours after the Bank of Japan raised rates, a move that many investors had tracked as a potential macro trigger.

Open interest climbed faster than the price, and funding rates turned positive, which indicates fresh margin-driven long positions were being added rather than a simple cover of shorts. That kind of flows pattern raises the chance of volatile reversals if sentiment shifts, even when spot demand looks healthy.

Featured image from Unsplash, chart from TradingView

Risk Warnings and Disclaimers

Add to Favorites

What BitMine’s 4M ETH holdings mean for its stock valuation

Cointelegraph

Key takeaways

Large market participants are steadily reducing exposure, creating sustained selling pressure across Bitcoin, Ether and XRP.
Global macro tightening, including Bank of Japan rate-hike expectations and muted reactions to Fed cuts, is weighing on risk appetite.
Buyer demand is weakening, with slower treasury accumulation and fewer aggressive dip buyers than in past cycles.
Bitcoin is testing critical long-term technical levels that have historically preceded extended drawdowns.

BitMine Immersion Technologies (ticker: BMNR) said it held 3,967,210 Ether as of Dec. 14, 2025. Alongside its Ether position, the company disclosed holdings of 193 Bitcoin , a $38-million equity stake in Eightco Holdings (Nasdaq: ORBS) and $1 billion in cash.

Taken together, BitMine described its combined “crypto + total cash + moonshots” holdings as being worth roughly $13.2 billion-$13.3 billion at the time of writing.

The headline number of nearly 4 million ETH stands out immediately.

But what really matters is not just the size of the crypto pile; it’s how that pile compares to the value the public market assigns to BitMine’s stock.

BitMine’s valuation snapshot as of late December 2025

For companies that primarily act as crypto treasuries, valuation discussions tend to start with a simple question: What is the crypto worth, and how does that compare to the company’s market capitalization once share count is factored in?

As of late December 2025, BitMine Immersion Technologies (BMNR) is valued by the public market at roughly $13 billion, with shares trading in the low-to-mid $30 range and an estimated 425.8 million shares outstanding.

On Dec. 17, the company added another $140 million in ETH to its Ether stack, according to Arkham.

This valuation places the company in an unusual position: Its equity market capitalization is broadly comparable to the reported market value of its crypto and cash holdings, led by nearly 4 million ETH.

As a result, BMNR’s valuation is less anchored to traditional operating metrics and more influenced by the market value of its digital asset treasury, expectations around dilution from prior financing and how investors price a publicly traded proxy for ETH exposure.

While the stock has delivered strong gains over the past year, valuation screens and third-party models indicate it trades at elevated multiples relative to current earnings, reflecting the market’s willingness to price BMNR primarily as a large-scale crypto treasury vehicle rather than a conventional operating company.

Treasury-style valuation and why dilution matters

Because BMNR is a publicly traded stock, its market capitalization is straightforward: share price multiplied by shares outstanding. But the share count is not a trivial detail; it is central to understanding what each share actually represents.

BitMine’s 2025 financing activity included a private investment in a public equity transaction. As disclosed in its US Securities and Exchange Commission filings, the deal involved the issuance of 36,309,592 shares at $4.50 per share, along with pre-funded warrants exercisable into up to 11,006,444 additional shares, plus other warrant packages tied to the same financing.

For investors and operators looking at crypto treasury companies, the key point is simple. What matters is how much of the crypto treasury each share represents. That depends on how many shares and share equivalents exist.

A company can increase its ETH holdings significantly. At the same time, it can also increase the number of shares outstanding. When that happens, the value of the treasury per share may not rise. Both the size of the crypto holdings and the share count matter.

In other words, a growing ETH balance does not automatically translate into a proportional increase in value per share.

Why “4 million ETH” does not settle the valuation debate

Even with unusually transparent crypto disclosures, a clean net-asset-value-style comparison still requires the full balance sheet to be meaningful.

That includes:

Assets, such as ETH, BTC, cash, equity stakes and any operating assets
Liabilities, including debt, payables, lease obligations or other claims senior to common equity
Fully diluted share count, which incorporates outstanding shares plus exercisable warrants and pre-funded warrants.

A press release snapshot provides clarity on the asset side, but it does not resolve questions around liabilities or full dilution on its own.

What it does establish is something more structural: BitMine’s ETH position is now large enough that the company’s equity value is tightly linked to ETH price movements simply because the size of the holding is comparable to the company’s total market capitalization.

That linkage is not a prediction about future prices or returns; it is a mechanical reality of scale.

Accounting and disclosure implications

There is another layer worth noting. In the US, accounting rules for crypto assets have shifted. Under updated standards issued by the Financial Accounting Standards Board, many crypto assets are now measured at fair value, with changes flowing directly through net income for fiscal years beginning after mid-December 2024.

For a company holding billions of dollars worth of ETH, that means fluctuations in crypto prices can translate into meaningful swings in reported earnings, even if the company does not sell any tokens. As a result, some investors may lean more heavily on asset-value frameworks rather than traditional earnings-based multiples when thinking about valuation.

Separately, US regulators have consistently emphasized that crypto-linked issuers face material risks, including price volatility, custody and cybersecurity issues, and market structure risks. Those risks do not disappear simply because crypto is held on a corporate balance sheet.

What BitMine’s valuation signals for ETH investors

For Ether investors, BMNR’s stock valuation matters less as a signal about ETH’s fundamentals and more as a reflection mechanism.

BitMine holds roughly 4 million ETH. Because of that, its stock increasingly acts as a corporate proxy for ETH exposure. When ETH’s price moves, BMNR’s stock tends to move with it.

However, the stock is also affected by factors that ETH investors usually do not face. These include share dilution, financing structure, liabilities and disclosure risk. As a result, changes in BMNR’s stock price can amplify or distort ETH price moves rather than reflect them cleanly.

In practical terms, BMNR can attract capital seeking ETH exposure through public markets, but it does not represent incremental onchain demand or a clean price signal for Ether itself. Instead, it highlights how ETH is becoming embedded in traditional equity structures, where corporate decisions, not protocol fundamentals, increasingly shape how that exposure is priced.

Risk Warnings and Disclaimers

Add to Favorites

'Beyond Single-Chain Paradigm': Cardano Lays Out Interchain Vision

U.Today

Cardano is moving beyond a single‑chain paradigm. At the center of this vision are interchains, which connect Cardano to a multi-chain future.

This is important as the Cardano Vision research program, a five-year strategic agenda, coordinates 34 long-term research streams across nine thematic areas, including interchains.

As blockchain ecosystems mature and diversify, the ability to transfer assets, data and computation across chains without compromising security has become essential, hence the need for interchains.

Input Output Group
@IOGroup
Cardano is moving beyond a single‑chain paradigm.
Trustless BTC bridges, partner chains, privacy services, new economic models, the latest R&D Session shows how #Cardano is positioning itself at the center of a multi‑chain internet of blockchains.
➡️ Catch the full breakdown:…
Dec 19, 2025

Interchains are anticipated to shift Cardano beyond a single-network paradigm, laying the groundwork for a blockchain ecosystem where assets can move freely, applications can consume data and functionality from multiple networks and partner chains can extend Cardano’s capabilities without diluting its security model. If Ouroboros defines how Cardano reaches consensus, interoperability defines where that consensus connects.

Fergie Miller, director of research partnerships at IOG, while explaining Cardano's interchain approach noted that the value of blockchain technology does not lie in isolated networks, but in an interconnected fabric of sovereign systems that can share liquidity, identity and computation.

Cardinal, partner chains unlock Cardano multichain strategy

Cardinal, a trust-minimized bridge connecting Bitcoin and Cardano, represents a significant step toward enabling Bitcoin’s vast liquidity to be used securely within Cardano’s DeFi environment.

This model enables Bitcoin to be used within Cardano’s extended UTXO (EUTXO) architecture.

Partner chains provide a framework for launching purpose-built chains that interact natively with Cardano and each other. Partner chains do not require bespoke bridges, and they inherit security and benefit from shared liquidity. They include privacy, identity or specialized computation without duplicating infrastructure.

In separate news, following an announcement that welcomed Pyth to Cardano, the Critical Integrations program is bringing Dune analytics to the ecosystem, making Cardano’s on-chain activity legible in the same data environment used by the rest of the industry.

Risk Warnings and Disclaimers

Add to Favorites

Uniswap Jumps as UNI Governance Vote Nears—Can the Fee Switch Trigger the Price Rally?

Coinpedia

The Uniswap price has moved back into focus as traders react to a major governance vote that could reshape the token’s long-term value. While the broader crypto market remains cautious, UNI has shown relative strength, driven by expectations around changes to token burns and protocol fees. With the vote entering its final stage, UNI price action is becoming increasingly sensitive to both technical levels and sentiment shifts.

Current UNI Price Action

In recent sessions, Uniswap has rebounded after defending the $5.00 support zone, a level that had acted as a key pivot throughout the month. Price has since pushed higher, clearing near-term resistance as buying interest picked up ahead of the governance decision.

The move has been supported by a rise in trading volume, suggesting active positioning rather than a low-liquidity spike. However, price action has also started to slow near higher levels, indicating early profit-taking. This places UNI in a short consolidation phase, where the next directional move will likely depend on the outcome of the vote and how the market reacts afterwards.

About the UNI Governance Vote

The ongoing UNIfication governance vote, which runs through December 25 UTC, is one of the most important proposals Uniswap has seen in recent years. The proposal includes two major changes.

First, it plans a 100 million UNI token burn from the treasury, reducing overall supply. Second, it proposes the activation of Uniswap’s long-discussed fee switch, allowing a portion of protocol fees to be routed into a burn mechanism. If implemented, this would directly link protocol usage and revenue to UNI’s token economics for the first time.

For traders and long-term holders, this is significant. UNI has historically functioned mainly as a governance token. The fee switch would introduce a clearer value-capture mechanism, potentially changing how the market values UNI compared to other DeFi blue-chip tokens.

UNI Price Analysis: Key Levels and Scenarios

From a technical perspective, UNI’s structure has improved after holding above $5.00, which now acts as a critical support zone. Momentum indicators had been oversold before the rebound, supporting the case for a relief rally.

Key levels traders are watching:

Support: $5.00–.85
Near-term resistance: $5.60–$5.80
Higher resistance (if momentum builds): $6.20–$6.50

Holding above the $5.6 region after the vote would keep the bullish structure intact. A rejection back below support could turn the recent move into a short-term “buy the rumor, sell the news” reaction, especially given the thin holiday liquidity around the vote result.

Conclusion

UNI’s recent price strength reflects growing anticipation around a governance decision that could redefine how UNI’s token is valued. The combination of a large token burn and potential fee switch has pushed UNI back onto traders’ radar, even as broader market sentiment remains cautious.

That said, the real test will come after the vote. Whether UNI can hold key support levels and attract sustained participation will decide if this move evolves into a longer-term repricing or fades into consolidation. For now, price behaviour around the $5 zone remains the most important signal to watch.

Risk Warnings and Disclaimers

Add to Favorites

Ethereum Developers Plan ‘Glamsterdam’ and ‘Hegota’ Upgrades for 2026

Beincrypto

Ethereum core developers have revealed plans to execute two major network upgrades in 2026, codenamed “Glamsterdam” and “Hegota.”

This decision marks the blockchain network’s continued strategic pivot toward a faster release cadence. The move is intended to establish a predictable biannual upgrade schedule and strengthen its competitive position against high-throughput rivals.

Ethereum Shifts to Biannual Upgrades to Fend Off High-Speed Rivals

The roadmap positions “Glamsterdam” for release in the first half of 2026, arriving fast on the heels of the recent “Fusaka” hard fork.

According to developers, Glamsterdam will focus on immediate scalability and efficiency fixes, primarily through gas optimizations and “Enshrined Proposer-Builder Separation” (ePBS).

This technical upgrade aims to separate the roles of block builders and block proposers at the protocol level. It reduces censorship risks and further decentralizes the network.

Meanwhile, the developers intend to finalize the full feature list for Glamsterdam immediately following the holiday break.

On the other hand, the second phase of the 2026 sprint, “Hegota,” targets the latter half of the year.

The upgrade’s name reflects its dual nature, combining the “Bogota” execution-layer update with the “Heze” consensus-layer update.

Christine Kim, a former Vice President at Galaxy Digital who now closely tracks protocol governance, noted that scoping discussions for Hegota will commence on the January 8 All Core Developers call.

These sessions will determine the fork’s “headliner” features, with a finalized scope expected by late February.

Other Planned Updates

Parallel to these structural changes, the Ethereum Foundation is aggressively reorienting its long-term research toward security hardening.

Researcher George Kadianakis confirmed that the network aims to achieve “128-bit provable security” by year-end 2026. The cryptographic standard is considered essential for institutional-grade financial applications.

“For zkEVMs, this isn’t academic. A soundness issue is not like other security issues. If an attacker can forge a proof, they can forge anything: mint tokens from nothing, rewrite state, steal funds. For an L1 zkEVM securing hundreds of billions of dollars, the security margin is not negotiable,” he stated.

The Foundation has linked this initiative to specific milestones, including a “soundcalc” integration in February and full alignment with the Glamsterdam hard fork in May.

Meanwhile, these efforts aim to remove the technical friction that currently limits Ethereum’s mass adoption.

To bridge this gap, developers are implementing a strategy to lower entry barriers and match the intuitive simplicity of mainstream consumer applications.

Risk Warnings and Disclaimers

Add to Favorites

XRP ETFs see steady inflows as total assets hit $1.2B

Crypto Briefing

US XRP exchange-traded funds have accumulated $1.2 billion in assets following an unbroken streak of daily inflows since their market debut, according to aggregated data from issuer websites and market trackers .

Canary’s XRP ETF currently holds the top position with $335 million in assets under management. 21shares and Grayscale follow with over $250 million and $220 million, respectively, just ahead of funds managed by Bitwise and Franklin Templeton.

These funds have collectively attracted $1 billion in net inflows, with 21shares leading the latest session at around $7 million.

While XRP ETFs have seen strong launches, XRP’s price has lagged behind Bitcoin’s post-ETF performance. The asset is trading at about $1.9, down 9% over the past month, as market-wide volatility continues.

Analysts have warned of a potential cooling period in the crypto market in 2026, which could add further pressure to XRP and other assets.

Markus Thielen, the founder of 10x Research, has predicted that most non-Bitcoin crypto ETFs are unlikely to achieve lasting success, as institutional demand continues to center on Bitcoin.

He said in a recent interview that Bitcoin’s role as "digital gold" resonates with investors, while altcoins such as XRP and Solana lack a compelling institutional narrative.

Risk Warnings and Disclaimers

Add to Favorites