The CEO of a cryptocurrency-dealing online casino has acknowledged that the company was hacked this week.
Interactive slots, live dealer table games like baccarat, roulette, poker, and blackjack, nonfungible token (NFT) raffles and drawings, and a selection of instant-win games are all available on the online gaming platform MetaWin.
Players who participate in the MetaWin rewards program are also eligible to participate in daily and weekly "wagering races," in which wagerers are rated according to the total amount of real money wagers they place. Participants in the races have a chance to win a $40K weekly top prize.
Anjouan, a tiny archipelagic nation off the southeast coast of Africa, has granted the London-based online casino an internet gaming license to operate offshore. Although gamers at the online casino have little risk of legal repercussions, MetaWin is not authorized to accept wagers in any US state.
Nonetheless, state gaming authorities are still warning customers about the dangers of playing at an offshore casino. They claim that unregulated gaming websites offer little to no consumer protections, such as the security of their online funds. This week's MetaWin exploit demonstrated that point.
$4 Million Stolen
On November 3, MetaWin CEO and founder Richard Skelhorn said that some of the company's "hot wallets" had been compromised. After blockchain researcher ZachXBT posted on his Telegram channel about a successful hack of MetaWin's Ethereum and Solana hot wallets, Skelhorn made his remarks.
"Today, we experienced an attack where an exploiter was able to withdraw a significant amount from our hot wallets by taking advantage of our frictionless withdrawal system,” Skel wrote. “We’ll be implementing additional security controls for new users, while also exploring ways to maintain a flexible and seamless experience for our trusted community.”
Cryptocurrency wallets that are always online are known as "hot wallets." Hot wallets are used to send and receive cryptocurrencies as well as temporarily store keys.
The safest way to secure digital currency is using cold wallets, or storages, which keep cryptocurrency offline in a private location. However, in order to exchange coins such as Bitcoin, Ethereum, Tether, and Solana, hot wallets are required.
According to ZachXBT, the hackers were able to steal $4 million worth of cryptocurrency, which they quickly moved to KuCoin and a HitBTC nested cold wallet. More than 115 addresses were found to be connected to the malicious actor by the online detective.
To his credit, Skel claimed to have already started "topping off" affected consumers and would absorb the $4 million loss on his own.
“In short, today we faced a challenge, but we’re learning from it and will emerge stronger,” Skel concluded.
Expert Marketer
In 2015, Skelhorn founded the Atemi Group, which contributed significantly to his wealth. Global iGaming lead generation and social media advertising were the company's areas of expertise.
In 2020, Skelhorn sold Better Collective his Atemi Group for €44 million (US$48 million). More than 180K new depositing consumers were transferred to Atemi's international iGaming and online sportsbook partners in the year of its acquisition.
The Action Network, SportsHandle, and VegasInsider are online media brands owned by Better Collective, a publicly traded company with its headquarters in Denmark.
