How a Single Copy-Paste Error Resulted in a $50 Million Loss in USDt

A single transactional blunder has led to one of the most significant on-chain losses this year, with a user mistakenly sending nearly $50 million in USDt to a scam address due to a classic address poisoning attack.

Key Takeaways

A user lost $49,999,950 in USDt due to a copy-paste error involving a scam wallet address.
Address poisoning attacks trick victims by inserting similar-looking addresses into their transaction histories.
The victim had a history of using their wallet for USDt transactions and had recently withdrawn funds from Binance.
Security experts emphasize that such scams exploit human behavior rather than technical vulnerabilities.
Overall, crypto hacks reached $3.4 billion in losses in 2025, primarily driven by major breaches.

How a single copy-paste mistake cost a user $50M in USDt

This article discusses a costly mistake made by a cryptocurrency user who lost almost $50 million in USDt. The loss occurred after the individual copied a malicious wallet address from their transaction history. The article explains the mechanics of address poisoning scams, highlights the subtlety of address similarities, and notes the rising trends in crypto hacks.

Understanding Address Poisoning Scams

According to blockchain investigator Web3 Antivirus, the victim lost a staggering 49,999,950 USDt by copying a fraudulent wallet address from their transaction history. Address poisoning scams work by inserting lookalike wallet addresses into a victim's transaction history through small transfers. Later, when victims copy an address, they may accidentally select the scammer's address instead of the intended recipient's.

Onchain data indicates that the victim first sent a small test transaction to the correct address. However, just minutes later, they inadvertently transferred the full $50 million to the compromised address.

User falls victim to address poisoning scam. Source: Web3 Antivirus

The Deceptive Nature of Similar Addresses

Security researcher Cos, the founder of SlowMist, highlighted that the similarity between the fraudulent and legitimate addresses was slight but sufficient to confuse even seasoned users. "You can see that the first three characters and the last four characters match," he explained.

An analysis of the victim's wallet revealed it had been active for about two years, primarily conducting USDt transfers. Just before the incident, the user withdrew funds from Binance, indicating that the wallet was being actively managed.

"This illustrates the harsh reality of address poisoning—an attack that exploits human behavior rather than breaking into systems," stated another onchain analyst.

The attacker has since converted the stolen USDt into Ether, distributed the funds across multiple wallets, and partially funneled it into Tornado Cash.

Crypto Hacks Reaching New Heights in 2025

As reported by Cointelegraph, losses from crypto-related hacks totaled $3.4 billion in 2025, marking the highest annual figure since 2022. This spike in losses was largely due to a few significant breaches targeting major cryptocurrency organizations, rather than a general increase in the size of attacks.

Notably, just three incidents accounted for 69% of total losses this year, with the $1.4 billion hack of crypto exchange Bybit being the most prominent, representing nearly half of all stolen funds.

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