Stake, the Australian-Curaçaoan gambling site which uses crypto-currency for bets has been targeted in an audacious theft which has seen over $40M worth of crypto-currencies stolen from its wallet.
It appears that the theft took place over a number of transactions, but the majority of the money stolen took place in just three transactions – the first transaction saw almost $16M ETH (Etherium) stolen and the second saw $25.6M of BSC (BowsCoin) and Polygon transferred out of the Stake crypto-wallet.
The theft from the company which is financially backed by Canadian rap artist Drake, was first highlighted by the Crypto-chain analyst @CyversAlerts on Twitter
This report was then confirmed by @Zachxbt who also identified the SBC and Polygon theft
The stolen funds have been converted to ETH and then transferred out via multiple other wallets.
The wallet owned by stake has had all transactions put on hold whilst investigations into the theft are conducted.
Who are Stake?
Stake.com offers traditional casino games, such as slots, blackjack and roulette and also sports betting. the company also supports gambling in online Twitch streams with gamers competing together in various online games
Stake has gathered a lot of support in recent years since its arrival on the gambling scene in 2017. The company is a sponsor of Everton and Watford football clubs, footballer Sergio Aguero, and Formula one/two drivers Pedro & Enzo Fittipaldi.
In January of this year, the Alfa Romeo F1 team announced that Stake would be their title sponsor in a multi-year deal which saw the team re-branded to become Alfa Romeo F1 Team Stake.
UK punters not affected
The theft of the crypto-curency will not affect most UK users of the site, as UK gambling laws currently prohibit the use of crypto-currency. The UK website for Stake.com only allows bets to be placed using traditional, FIAT* money.
*FIAT money = A fiat money is a type of currency that is declared legal tender by a government but has no intrinsic or fixed value and is not backed by any tangible asset, such as gold or silver.
Fiat currency values are guaranteed by the government that issues the money, and the government can control the supply of money in circulation in response to economic fluctuations.
