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Ethereum Holder Loses $12 Million in This New Cyber Attack

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The Address Poisoning Attack.

A cryptocurrency investor has lost 4,556 Ethereum, valued at approximately $12.4 million, after falling victim to a sophisticated “address poisoning” attack.

Specter, a pseudonymous blockchain analyst, reported that the theft occurred roughly 32 hours after the attacker “dusted” the victim’s wallet with a nominal transaction.

How a Fake Look-Alike Address Cost an Ethereum Holder Millions

According to Specter’s on-chain analysis, the attacker spent two months monitoring the victim’s transaction activity. During this period, the hacker specifically identified a deposit address used for OTC settlements.

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The attacker employed vanity address generation software to engineer a look-alike wallet. This fraudulent address shared the exact same starting and ending alphanumeric characters as the victim’s intended destination.

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Address poisoning relies on the user’s tendency to check only the first and last few characters of a long hexadecimal string. In this instance, the fraudulent address and the legitimate OTC address appeared identical at a glance.

The attacker first initiated a minor transaction to the victim’s wallet, a tactic designed to populate the user’s activity log. This strategic move ensured the corrupted address appeared prominently at the top of the “recent transactions” history.

Relying on this compromised list, the victim inadvertently copied the poisoned address rather than the legitimate source when attempting to move the $12.4 million.

The Address Poisoning Attack.
The Address Poisoning Attack. Source: Scam Sniffer

This incident marks the second major eight-figure theft via this specific vector in recent weeks. Last month, a separate crypto trader lost approximately $50 million in a nearly identical scheme.

Industry stakeholders argue that these attacks are proliferating because wallet interfaces often truncate addresses to save screen space. This design choice effectively hides the middle characters where the discrepancies lie.

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Meanwhile, this breach raises serious questions regarding verification protocols among institutional-grade investors.

While retail traders often rely on copy-pasting addresses, entities moving millions typically employ strict whitelisting procedures and test transactions.

Consequently, blockchain security firm Scam Sniffer has urged investors to abandon reliance on transaction history for recurring crypto payments. Instead, they recommend utilizing verified, hard-coded address books to mitigate the risk of interface spoofing.

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Crypto World

Canada Eyes Ban on Crypto Political Donations

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Canada Eyes Ban on Crypto Political Donations

Canada’s federal government has proposed a total ban on cryptocurrency donations to political parties, citing concerns that foreign entities could exploit the technology to interfere in elections.

Known as the Strong and Free Elections Act, the bill was introduced on Thursday and proposed to amend the Canada Elections Act to prohibit political parties and third parties involved in the election process from accepting donations in crypto, money orders and prepaid cards to prevent anonymous and “hard to trace contributions.”

The bill’s sponsor, Steven MacKinnon, the leader of the government in the House of Commons, said in an X statement on Thursday that the measures are intended to block foreign interference and other threats to elections.

“With the introduction of the Strong and Free Elections Act, new investments to counter foreign threats and stronger government coordination, we are acting to ensure our elections remain free, fair and secure at all times,” he said.

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Source: Steven MacKinnon 

Canada is not alone in its concerns. The UK government also announced plans for a moratorium on crypto donations on Thursday, following an independent review and pressure from senior politicians.

First attempt at banning crypto donations failed

The current Strong and Free Elections Act had its first reading in the House of Commons on Thursday. To become law, it must progress through several readings and a committee stage in that chamber, then pass through the Senate before reaching the Governor General of Canada for royal assent.

A similar bill was proposed in 2024 by Dominic LeBlanc, then minister of public safety, but it failed to advance past the second reading in the House of Commons and ultimately died.

Crypto political donations in Canada have been permitted since 2019 and are treated similarly to property donations. 

Related: Kalshi legal woes grow with Washington state gambling suit

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However, a 2024 report by Stéphane Perrault, the chief electoral officer, recommended a ban on crypto political donations altogether on the grounds that it “poses challenges in identifying a contributor.”

Penalties could be up to twice the amount contributed

If the proposed legislation becomes law, contributions made using any of the banned payment methods must be returned, destroyed or delivered to the chief electoral officer. 

Penalties for violations could include up to twice the amount contributed, plus $25,000 for individuals and $100,000 for corporate entities.

The bill also proposes expanding existing bans on realistic deepfakes that impersonate electoral candidates to mislead voters. The issue gained attention in the lead-up to the 2024 US elections, with one reported case involving a deepfake of then-President Biden urging voters not to participate.

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