key takeaways:
- Billionaire Mark Cuban confirms $870,000 worth of crypto stolen from his MetaMask wallet
- In response to the breach, Cuban swiftly moved his remaining assets to Coinbase
Tech billionaire Mark Cuban ended the week on a sour note, reentering the crypto scene only to fall prey to a crypto scam. Despite alert observers in the blockchain community identifying the suspicious activity, Cuban suffered an $870,000 loss across multiple cryptocurrencies.
The breach was initially noticed by independent blockchain investigator Wazz on September 15th, around 8 pm UTC. WazzCrypto flagged the unusual movement of assets from one of Cuban’s dormant hot wallets, which had been inactive for 160 days.
“Did Mark Cuban’s wallet just get drained? Wallet inactive for 160 days, and all assets just moved,” noted WazzCrypto.
Among the suspicious transactions, a significant one involved a $2 million transfer of USDC, followed by the conversion of all Ethereum (ETH) holdings into MATIC tokens after a deposit on Coinbase.
WazzCrypto pointed out that Cuban managed to transfer approximately $2.5 million in USDC to Coinbase, thwarting the attacker’s attempt to seize those funds as well.
“[Mark Cuban] transferred $2M $USDC he had on Matic too, but to a different wallet than the ETH one. Seeing as he made a test first this time, I’m gonna assume it’s actually him moving funds here,” observed WazzCrypto.
Mark Cuban, the tech mogul, confirmed the hack just a few hours later, revealing that he had accessed MetaMask for the first time in months, implying that the hackers had been patiently waiting for an opportune moment to strike. He also suggested that he might have inadvertently downloaded a counterfeit version of MetaMask containing malicious software, making him the latest victim of a phishing attack within the crypto community.
Cuban further disclosed that he had taken precautionary measures by transferring his remaining assets to Coinbase Custody, clarifying that he personally executed the $2 million USDC transfer. According to Cuban, he has strong suspicions that he fell victim to a malicious MetaMask download:
“I logged into MetaMask for the first time in months. They must have been watching.”
It’s worth noting that malicious actors frequently create deceptive MetaMask extensions, aiming to deceive users into revealing their private keys or seed phrases. Once these attackers gain access, they can easily siphon off the assets.
