US Edition
Crypto Trader Loses Nearly All of $50 Million in One Botched DeFi Transaction
Aave's interface warned the user about over 99% slippage on a $50 million USDT swap, with arbitrage traders capturing the significant loss, per founder Stani Kulechov.
- On Thursday, a crypto user executed a $50,432,688 aEthUSDT order via CoW Protocol on Ethereum, running with more than 99% slippage and leaving about 327 aEthAAVE worth roughly $36,000.
- The Aave interface flagged the unusually large order and required the user to confirm an extraordinary-slippage checkbox before proceeding, and Stani Kulechov said the user accepted a quote with extremely high price impact.
- Arbitrage traders and network intermediaries quickly captured the value difference, and CoW Swap said the transaction executed per the signed order with clear price-impact warnings.
- The Aave team said it sympathizes with the trader and is attempting to return about $600,000 in fees, calling the outcome 'clearly far from optimal'.
- The episode follows recent liquidations on Aave, including about $27 million tied to a wstETH pricing issue, and coverage published March 13, 2026 notes it highlights risks of large orders in shallow DeFi liquidity pools.
23 Articles
23 Articles
Two On-Chain Errors Cost Crypto Investors $63 Million in Under a Month Altcoin News ETHNews
A single poorly structured transaction wiped out $49.5 million in seconds this week when a crypto whale attempted to swap $54 million USDT into AAVE tokens in one block on a decentralized exchange. The loss was not the result of a hack, a scam, or a market crash. It was the result of placing an order far too large for the liquidity available, and the DeFi infrastructure responded exactly as it was designed to. The mechanics of the loss are strai…
Crypto trader accidentally swaps $50 million for $36,000 AAVE in a minute
On March 12, a cryptocurrency trader appears to have made a disastrous swap on Ethereum (ETH) that resulted in a 99.93% loss in about a minute. Specifically, an X post made by Stani Kulechov, the Founder and CEO of Aave (AAVE), revealed that one investor initiated a trade on Thursday in which they attempted to swap approximately $50.4 million worth of the stablecoin USDT for AAVE. Considering that the cryptocurrency was, on March 12, trading clo…
Coverage Details
Bias Distribution
- 67% of the sources are Center
Factuality
To view factuality data please Upgrade to Premium
