Crypto Whale Misplaces $50M in Spoofed USDT Scam

2 mins mins

Key Points:

A crypto whale was scammed into sending 50M USDT to a spoofed address.
Whale’s USDT converted to ETH via Tornado Cash.
Market impact negligible; highlights ongoing security risks.

A whale mistakenly transferred 50 million USDT to a scammer’s address 10 hours after withdrawing from Binance, losing the funds through an address-poisoning scam on Ethereum.

The scam highlights security vulnerabilities in crypto transactions and underscores the necessity for enhanced security measures. This incident has not impacted the wider market significantly.

Whale Falls for $50M USDT Address Scam

The whale mistakenly sent 50 million USDT to a misleading address with a similar appearance to the intended recipient. After withdrawing from Binance, the whale transferred a test sum before the full amount fell into the scammer’s hands. The perpetrator utilized Tornado Cash to launder approximately 16,624 ETH derived from the stolen funds. Binance has not issued a specific statement about this incident, and efforts to recover the funds appear absent. More insights can be tracked via the Breaking news on DL News Twitter account.

Market reactions to the scam have been largely muted. Industry watchers continue to emphasize security, especially the dangers of address poisoning in cryptocurrency transactions. Warnings from crypto experts underline the importance of thoroughly verifying transaction addresses to prevent similar incidents in the future.

Crypto Security Risks Highlighted as Market Watches

Did you know? Address poisoning scams where users copy manipulated addresses from history have led to multi-million dollar losses in similar incidents, spotlighting persistent security challenges within the cryptocurrency space.

According to CoinMarketCap, Tether USDt is priced at $0.9995, with a market cap of $186.23 billion and trading volume of $53.68 billion over 24 hours, experiencing a -52.08% change. Recent movements show a 0.01% increase in the past 24 hours.

tether-usdt-daily-chart-415 — Tether USDt(USDT), daily chart, screenshot on CoinMarketCap at 18:43 UTC on December 20, 2025. *Source: CoinMarketCap*

Experts from Coincu highlight that address verification remains an underestimated issue, stressing the necessity of implementing advanced security measures such as verified address books and real-time transaction checks to mitigate such threats in the future.

DISCLAIMER: The information on this website is provided as general market commentary and does not constitute investment advice. We encourage you to do your own research before investing.