Key Points:
- Mark Cuban fell victim to a crypto scam, losing $870k, with the hack linked to a malicious MetaMask download.
- Despite the loss, Cuban managed to secure a portion of his assets by transferring them to Coinbase Custody.
- This incident underscores the importance of cybersecurity in the world of cryptocurrency investments.
CoinEx, a global cryptocurrency exchange, has disclosed a security breach in its hot wallets, resulting in a significant theft of digital assets earmarked for platform operations.
San Francisco: On September 15, American entrepreneur, investor, film producer, and television personality Mark Cuban encountered a loss of approximately $870,000 due to a cryptocurrency scam.
The unusual activity within the MetaMask cryptocurrency wallet labeled ‘Mark Cuban 2’ on EtherScan was first detected by blockchain investigator Wazz. This wallet had remained dormant for over five months, as reported by CryptoSlate.
“Witnessing Mark Cuban’s wallet drained? The wallet’s been idle for 160 days, and suddenly, all assets moved,” exclaimed Wazz in a post on X (formerly Twitter).
DLNews was the first to break this news.
Cuban confirmed that he lost five Ethereum (ETH) tokens, which are valued at approximately $8,170 at current market rates. Additionally, he lost USD Coin (USDC), Polygon (MATIC), Lido staked Ethereum (stETH), as well as tokens from SuperRare and Ethereum Name Service, according to the report.
Fortunately, the billionaire was able to swiftly transfer around $2 million USDC from the wallet to Coinbase Custody, preventing the majority of his assets from being pilfered.
Cuban suspects that he inadvertently downloaded a malicious version of MetaMask, which ultimately led to the security breach.
“I accessed MetaMask for the first time in months. They must have been monitoring my activities,” Cuban commented.
He also mentioned that his MetaMask application experienced several crashes, prompting him to secure his non-fungible tokens (NFTs) on OpenSea and withdraw all MATIC holdings from the compromised account.
This incident isn’t Cuban’s first brush with cryptocurrency losses. In 2021, he suffered undisclosed losses when the Iron Finance’s TITAN stablecoin encountered a suspected rug pull, as mentioned in the report.
Meanwhile, CoinEx, a global cryptocurrency exchange, disclosed a security breach involving its hot wallets, resulting in the theft of significant digital assets earmarked for supporting the platform’s operations. The unauthorized transactions, which included Ethereum ($ETH), Tron ($TRON), and Polygon ($MATIC) cryptocurrencies, transpired on September 12.
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