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CSGOEmpire owner Monarch loses $19M in the largest public poker game ever

by admin August 20, 2025

The biggest poker match ever streamed played out on YouTube as Counter-Strike mogul Ossi ‘Monarch’ Ketola battled poker legend Dan ‘Jungleman’ Cates in a marathon session that ended with Monarch dropping $19 million.

Broadcast live on Onyx Live’s YouTube channel from Merit Royal Diamond on August 19, the spectacle featured six nosebleed stakes matches with buy-ins climbing as high as €5 million. Thousands tuned in as the pair collided in what is now being called the largest public poker game in history.

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Cates struck first in a €2 million opener, but Monarch bounced back in the next two contests, including a €3 million buy-in where he steamrolled Jungleman with back-to-back coolers and some fearless bluffs.

Record pots and brutal swings

As the night escalated, so did the buy-ins. The two traded massive blows, including a €2.8 million pot where Monarch flopped quads against Cates’ full house.

The games continued, with Jungleman pulling off an impressive bluff with 5-3, making Monarch fold his pair of Aces.

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Not long after, they battled in a staggering €7.7 million hand, the largest pot of the entire session.

Despite Monarch holding the lead at that point, the tide soon turned. Jungleman locked in key pots down the stretch, winning four of the six matches and leaving with a €13 million profit, equal to around $15 million USD.

For Monarch, he ended up losing $19M throughout the marathon in one of the most expensive single-night defeats ever publicly witnessed in poker. Still, the CSGOEmpire founder isn’t exactly strapped for cash.

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“lol rip ~$19m in one sitting,” he commented on X following the stream. “Worth the content though.”

The Finnish entrepreneur has been running businesses since he was 14 and built his fortune in 2016 when he launched the Counter-Strike skin gambling site that exploded in popularity.

While Jungleman walked away with the glory, the night cemented both players in poker history and gave fans a rare glimpse at the highest stakes the game has ever seen.

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August 20, 2025 0 comments

Crypto Trends

Fartcoin Smells Trouble This Weekend as Memecoin Loses 30%

by admin June 21, 2025

The crypto market has experienced a major setback this week, resulting in major memecoins losing significant value in their respective valuations. With this, the Fartcoin price continues recording a bearish price action as it has dropped approximately 9% over the past 24 hours.

At press time, it had a trading volume of $243.03 million, a change of +37.95%. Additionally, the FARTCOIN has lost 21.65% over the past week and 33.97% in the last 30 days.

The FARTCOIN price chart shows that it had formed an expanding channel pattern. Meanwhile, due to the increasing selling pressure, this memecoin broke down the trend pattern for the first time since mid-March, resulting in it retesting its important support zone around the $0.90 mark.

The Moving Average Convergence Divergence (MACD) indicator records a rising red histogram in the daily time frame with its 12 & 26-day averages recording a bearish convergence. This trend suggests a rising bearish momentum for the FARTCOIN memecoin in the upcoming time.

The FARTCOIN price could retest its $1 mark if the bulls regain momentum. Maintaining the price above that level could result in it heading toward its upper resistance level of $1.12 or $1.35 respectively.

However, if the bears maintain dominance, it may pull the value of FARTCOIN price to its $0.88. A rising negative sentiment could pull the value toward its lower support level of $0.6575 this month.

Also Read: Traders Lose $300M in 4-Hour Liquidation as Bitcoin, Ethereum Drop Sharply

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June 21, 2025 0 comments

Crypto Trends

Ex-Animoca exec loses life savings in Zoom hack tied to Lazarus

by admin June 20, 2025

Ex-Animoca exec had his crypto wallets drained after downloading a fake Zoom update during a phishing attack linked to North Korean hacking group Lazarus.

Mehdi Farooq, an investment partner at Hypersphere and ex-Animoca Brands exec, revealed in a post on X on Thursday that he lost a large portion of his life savings in a Zoom hack linked to the North Korean hacking group Lazarus.

The scam began when Farooq received a Telegram message from Alex Lin, a professional acquaintance. Lin asked to catch up, and Farooq shared his Calendly link to schedule a call.

The next day, shortly before the meeting, Lin messaged again, asking to switch the call to Zoom Business “for compliance reasons,” explaining that one of his limited partners, Kent — whom Farooq also knew — would be joining.

The Zoom meeting appeared legitimate. Both participants had their cameras on, but there was no audio. In the Zoom chat, they said they were having technical issues and asked Farooq to update his Zoom client. Within minutes of installing the fake update, six of Farooq’s crypto wallets were drained.

It was only afterward that Farooq realized Lin’s account had been hacked. The scheme was later linked to Lazarus, a North Korean state-sponsored hacking group.

“It was surreal and completely violating. But in the darkest moment, whitehat hackers stepped up — complete strangers offering help when I was at my lowest. Turns out I was compromised by DPRK affiliated threat know as dangrouspassword,” wrote Farooq.

This incident echoes a recent phishing attempt targeting Manta Network co-founder Kenny Li, who narrowly avoided a similar fate. Li recounted that the attackers impersonated known contacts during a Zoom call, used fake video feeds, and insisted on a suspicious Zoom update download. Suspecting foul play, Li suggested switching communication platforms, prompting the attackers to block him and erase messages.

Security analysts say that this attack vector — where hackers pose as trusted contacts, fake technical glitches, and push malware disguised as Zoom updates — is a hallmark of Lazarus operations and has been used repeatedly to steal millions in crypto.

Other crypto industry leaders, including founders from Mon Protocol, Stably, and Devdock AI, have reported similar phishing attempts, highlighting how widespread and targeted these attacks have become.

Nick Bax from the Security Alliance broke down this scam in a March 11 X post.

Having audio issues on your Zoom call? That’s not a VC, it’s North Korean hackers.

Fortunately, this founder realized what was going on.

The call starts with a few “VCs” on the call. They send messages in the chat saying they can’t hear your audio, or suggesting there’s an… pic.twitter.com/ZnW8Mtof4F

— Nick Bax.eth (@bax1337) March 11, 2025

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June 20, 2025 0 comments

Crypto Trends

User loses $6.5m in crypto after buying tampered cold wallet via TikTok China

by admin June 16, 2025

A user lost $6.5 million in crypto after unknowingly purchasing a compromised cold wallet through TikTok China.

In a recent post on X, blockchain security firm SlowMist reported that a user lost $6.5 million worth of crypto after purchasing a compromised cold crypto wallet through Douyin, the Chinese version of TikTok. The wallet, though seemingly factory sealed, had its private key compromised at creation. Just hours after the user transferred funds into it, the assets were drained.

“Avoid “Factory sealed” or “Discounted cold wallets” — 99% are tampered,” the firm warned.

The incident mirrors the Trezor Model T incident investigated by Kaspersky in 2023, where a perfectly sealed but counterfeit wallet contained altered firmware and pre-generated seed phrases, allowing attackers to silently drain funds weeks after the user unknowingly activated the compromised device. That device was also bought from an unofficial online seller, who marketed it as brand new and factory sealed.

User @hella, who identified themselves as a close friend of the victim, said that although SlowMist was contacted and began tracing the transaction flow, recovery is unlikely.

“When buying a cold wallet, you must choose a reliable channel. Most of the ones on the internet are fake,” @hella wrote.

He also explained that once the funds were stolen, they were funneled through a laundering network suspected to be linked to Huiwang.

Huiwang (aka Huione Group) is a Cambodian conglomerate linked to the massive crypto-powered, Telegram-based black market and money laundering network known as Haowang Guarantee. Despite reports of a recent shutdown and the removal of its official channels, the network has recently resurfaced under a new domain and remains fully operational. According to Chainalysis, its transaction volumes have even increased after Huione Group’s designation as a primary money laundering concern by FinCEN.

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June 16, 2025 0 comments

Crypto Trends

Shiba Inu (SHIB) Loses 92%: What Happened?

by admin June 11, 2025

Shiba Inu has experienced a significant decline in both price momentum and on-chain activity — most notably, a staggering 92% drop in large holder inflows over the past week. Currently trading near $0.00001316, SHIB has once again failed to break past the critical resistance zones marked by the 50-day, 100-day and 200-day EMAs, which hover around $0.00001392, $0.00001417 and $0.00001553, respectively.

Technically, SHIB remains in a downtrend. Price action has been locked beneath the 200-day moving average since mid-April, with each attempted breakout being met by selling pressure. The recent rally attempt faded quickly at the EMA cluster, exposing the market’s weakness and lack of follow-through from bulls.

SHIB/USDT Chart by TradingView

But the real red flag lies in the on-chain data. According to IntoTheBlock, large holder inflows, a metric tracking tokens moved into whale wallets, have plummeted by 92.35% in just seven days. The 30-day drop stands at over 56%, clearly suggesting that whales are not accumulating. In fact, outflows have also dropped sharply, signaling that major players are simply sitting on the sidelines or have already exited.

This drying up of on-chain participation from influential holders is a major concern for SHIB’s short-term outlook. Without renewed interest from whales, the market lacks the liquidity and conviction to push price action higher. It reflects waning confidence and declining speculative interest, something confirmed by shrinking volume and price stagnation.

ALEX Protocol Loses $8.37M in Hack Due to Security Flaw

by admin June 7, 2025

On June 6, 2025, ALEX, the leading Bitcoin DeFi platform on Stacks, was exploited because of a bug in its self-listing verification process. They managed to steal assets worth more than $8.37 million, including 8.4 million STX, 21.85 sBTC, 2.8 WBTC, and several types of stablecoins like USDC/USDT.

According to the official announcement from ALEXLabBTC, the issue stemmed from an on-chain limitation on Stacks, which allowed the exploit to bypass listing rules. Even though there was a breach, ALEX is covering the losses and will pay back all affected users 100% in USDC from the ALEX Lab Foundation’s funds.

On June 6, 2025, ALEX Protocol was exploited via a flaw in the self-listing verification logic (an on-chain limitation on Stacks). As a result, the attacker drained several asset pools, with the breakdown of lost assets as follows:

STX: 8,403,867.57 STX → $ 5,691,255.93
sBTC:…

— ALEX 🟧 No. 1 Bitcoin DeFi (@ALEXLabBTC) June 6, 2025

To calculate reimbursements fairly, ALEX will use the average exchange rates between 10:00 and 14:00 UTC on June 6, right around when the hack occurred. Affected users will receive a private on-chain notification by June 8, 2025, with a link to the claim form. The deadline to complete and confirm the wallet address is June 10, 2025.

Once verified, USDC payouts will be distributed within seven business days. The team emphasized that its priority is to make every user whole as quickly as possible.

The fast and open way ALEX handled this problem shows how much it cares about its users, which may help the DeFi project recover from the incident. Since hacks are becoming more common in the crypto industry, ALEX’s promise to fully reimburse users is very reassuring.

Also Read: Ukraine Police Arrest Hacker for $4.5M Cryptojacking Attack

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June 7, 2025 0 comments

Crypto Trends

Bitcoin bull market ‘great validator’ comes as James Wynn loses $100M

by admin May 30, 2025

Key points:

Bitcoin profit-taking is in full swing, but this can end up sustaining the bull market, Santiment research argues.
Coins are spending increasingly less time in wallets, but the market is not suffering from “short-term speculation.”
One whale unable to take profits is Hyperliquid’s James Wynn, liquidated for $99 million.

Bitcoin (BTC) should enjoy continued upside despite hodlers taking profits on their holdings, says new research.

In its latest Biweekly Report on May 29, research firm Santiment stayed bullish on the market outlook as BTC/USD dropped 10%.

Bitcoin profit-taking can “help keep rally alive”

Bitcoin profit-taking need not be a sign that the bull market is nearing its end, Santiment says.

Analyzing the Mean Dollar-Invested Age (MDIA) metric — length of time coins spend in wallets without moving — it revealed that the supply has begun to activate since mid-April.

“During most bull cycles, a falling MDIA (meaning average holding wallets are getting younger) is a great validator that bullish momentum will continue,” it explains.

“More technically, a falling line indicates that old coins are being brought back into circulation, allowing utility to rise and an asset’s network to grow and flourish. Since mid-April, when tensions began to ease over the initial tariff announcements, Bitcoin’s MDIA has been dropping steadily.”Bitcoin MDIA data. Source: Santiment

The average time coins are held in a wallet has decreased modestly over the past six weeks, from 443 to 426 days.

While this signals that their owners seek to lock in profits, Santiment argues that such behavior is “necessary to help keep a rally alive.”

“This adds weight to the argument that the market is in an active phase, and not just being driven by short-term speculation,” it adds.

Hyperliquid whale pays a high price at $105,000

BTC price consolidation saw a return below $105,000 after the May 29 daily close, marking a 10% correction versus its latest all-time highs.

Related: Bitcoin can reach $200K in 2025 after ‘obvious’ price breakout signal

Despite this, sentiment remains conspicuously bullish, with consensus seeing a “healthy” support retest before upside continuation.

#Bitcoin – imagine being bearish on this bullish retest pic.twitter.com/2cyKvmhz8n

— Mags (@thescalpingpro) May 30, 2025

Others note continued large tranches of BTC leaving exchanges, including a 7,000 BTC transaction on May 30, which trader Merlijn attributed to a single whale entity.

Santiment was meanwhile among those commenting on the fate of one whale in particular, Hyperliquid’s James Wynn, whose long BTC position was liquidated for $99 million as the price dropped below the $105,000 mark.

James Wynn trading data (screenshot). Source: HyperDash

“When major longs get liquidated, prices typically move down sharply because the major capital is no longer propping up price,” it warned prior to the event.

This article does not contain investment advice or recommendations. Every investment and trading move involves risk, and readers should conduct their own research when making a decision.

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May 30, 2025 0 comments

GameFi Guides

Hyper Liquid Trader Loses $99M as Bitcoin Falls Below $105K

by admin May 30, 2025

Crypto trader James Wynn suffered a massive loss of more than $99 million in just a week, when a 949 BTC long position was liquidated. When the price of Bitcoin fell below $105,000, Wynn’s leveraged bet started to fail quickly.

Wynn had a position worth nearly $178 million using only $3.5 million of his perp equity. He was 100% invested in Bitcoin, showing that he believed in Bitcoin rising. Yet, the market took a different route.

The data reveals that Wynn’s unrealized P&L fell sharply and the red line on the graph shows that there were losses every day from May 23 to May 30. After everything, his account revealed a weekly loss of $99,197,131.51, an unrealized loss of $4.39M and a return on equity of -98.84%.

Over the past 24 hours, Wynn lost another $12.8M as Bitcoin continued to fall. He started with $107,983, but the market brought his price down to $105,995, almost reaching the liquidation point at $104,607.

The recent liquidation of this loan has become a hot topic on crypto Twitter, as many discuss the risks of taking on too much debt in the crypto market. Higher leverage allows traders to gain more, but it can also be very harsh when prices go in the opposite direction.

Wynn’s huge loss could end up being remembered as one of the biggest weekly losses in crypto—showing that risk is always there in the world of leverage.

Also Read: James Wynn’s $1B Bitcoin Short Backfires with $27M Loss

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May 30, 2025 0 comments

NFT Gaming

Crypto Investor Loses $2.5M by Copying Same Scam Address Twice

by admin May 27, 2025

Trusted Editorial content, reviewed by leading industry experts and seasoned editors. Ad Disclosure

A crypto user has just lost more than $2.5 million in a simple copy-and-paste mistake. They tried to move 843,166 USDT to a safe wallet. Instead, they sent a chunk of it to the wrong address.

Then they did it again—this time sending $1.7 million to the same scammer. It’s a costly reminder that even small slips can erase fortunes.

Copy-Paste Blunder Leads To Million-Dollar Loss

According to on-chain records, the victim first moved $838,611 in USDT to the right address (0x4668D1Fe87444a4d750…). A moment later, they clicked the wrong entry in their transaction history.

That misstep cost them 843,166 USDT at current prices. They tried once more. And again the funds went to the scammer’s account—and another $1.7 million vanished.

Phishing scams remain a big problem. Image: Perkins School For The Blind

History Poisoning Trick Catches Many Off Guard

Based on reports from Scam Sniffer, scammers are using “transaction history poisoning” to pull off these cons. They send tiny “dust” transfers from look-alike addresses—just enough to clutter a wallet’s history.

🚨 Transaction History Poisoning:

1. Scammer sends fake/dust transfer with similar address
2. Their fake address appears in your history
3. You copy address from history thinking it’s legitimate
4. Funds get sent to scammer insteadhttps://t.co/S2lM8J8XWm

— Scam Sniffer | Web3 Anti-Scam (@realScamSniffer) May 26, 2025

When users scroll back through past transactions, they can’t tell the real address from the bogus one. Copy. Paste. Gone. In this case, the attack address (0x4668EE748c88DA4FEc…) looked almost identical to the real one. And it showed zero balance, adding to the confusion.

Phishing Scams Remain High

April’s phishing losses hit $5.29 million. That’s down 17% from March. But the number of victims climbed 26%, from 5,992 to 7,565 addresses. A single “whale” lost $1.43 million to a phishing signature. Back in March, the biggest haul was $1.82 million.

🚨 ScamSniffer April 2025 Phishing Report

April losses: $5.29M | 7,565 victims
VS March: -17% in losses | +26% in victims

Key insight: Notable spike in victim count despite lower total losses. Largest attack netted $1.43M via phishing, followed by $700K from address poisoning… pic.twitter.com/mJbGgGyGrN

— Scam Sniffer | Web3 Anti-Scam (@realScamSniffer) May 3, 2025

Total crypto market cap currently at $3.4 trillion. Chart: TradingView

April’s second-largest attack saw one user lose $700,000 after copying the wrong address. Another person sent $150,000 by mistake. And wallet 0xEFc4f1d5 alone lost over $467,000 in a similar copy-paste trap.

New Threats From EIP-7702 Upgrade

On May 24, the phishing gang Inferno Drainer used Ethereum’s new EIP-7702 rules to steal almost $150,000 in one hit. EIP-7702 lets regular accounts act like smart contracts for a moment.

The scammers guided victims to approve a batch of hidden token transfers through a delegated MetaMask setup. One click opened the door for a silent “execute” command that drained the wallets in seconds.

Greed Breeds Risk

Crypto markets are near $3.5 trillion in total value. Bitcoin hit a fresh all-time high of $111,900 on May 22. Traders are chasing big gains. That rush makes urgent moves, and urgent moves invite mistakes.

Featured image from Unsplash, chart from TradingView

Editorial Process for bitcoinist is centered on delivering thoroughly researched, accurate, and unbiased content. We uphold strict sourcing standards, and each page undergoes diligent review by our team of top technology experts and seasoned editors. This process ensures the integrity, relevance, and value of our content for our readers.

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May 27, 2025 0 comments

Crypto Trends

Crypto investor loses $2.5M in stablecoins in double phishing scam

by admin May 26, 2025

A single victim has been scammed two times within three hours, losing a total of $2.5 million in stablecoins.

According to data shared on May 26 by crypto compliance firm Cyvers, the victim sent 843,000 worth of USDt (USDT) followed by another 2.6 million USDt around three hours later. Cyvers said the scam used a method known as a zero-value transfer, a sophisticated form of onchain phishing.

Source: Cyvers Alert

Zero-value transfers are an onchain phishing technique that abuses token transfer functions to trick users into sending real funds to attackers. The attackers exploit the token transferFrom function to transfer zero tokens from the victim’s wallet to a spoofed address.

Since the amount transferred is zero, no signature by the victim’s private key is necessary for onchain inclusion. Consequently, the victims will see the outgoing transaction in their history.

The victim may trust this address since it is included in their transaction history, mistaking it as a known or safe recipient. They may then send real funds to the attacker’s address in a future transaction.

In one high-profile case, a scammer using zero transfer phishing attack managed to steal $20 million worth of USDT before getting blacklisted by the stablecoin’s issuer in the summer of 2023.

Related: Hackers using fake Ledger Live app to steal seed phrases and drain crypto

Advanced form of address poisoning

A Zero-value transfer is considered an evolution of address poisoning — a tactic where attackers send small amounts of cryptocurrency from a wallet address that closely resembles a victim’s real address, often with the same starting and ending characters. The goal is to trick the user into accidentally copying and reusing the attacker’s address in future transactions, resulting in lost funds.

The technique exploits how users often rely on partial address matching or clipboard history when sending crypto. Custom addresses with similar starting and ending characters can also be combined with zero-value transfers.

Related: Industry exec sounds alarm on Ledger phishing letter delivered by USPS

Threat growing across blockchains

A January 2025 study found that over 270 million poisoning attempts occurred on BNB Chain and Ethereum between July 1, 2022, and June 30, 2024. Of those, 6,000 attempts were successful, leading to losses over $83 million.

The report follows crypto cybersecurity firm Trugard and onchain trust protocol Webacy announcing an artificial intelligence-based system for detecting crypto wallet address poisoning. The new tool purportedly has a success score of 97%, tested across known attack cases.

Magazine: Crypto scam hub expose stunt goes viral, Kakao detects 70K scam apps: Asia Express

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May 26, 2025 0 comments