Latest news with #Wintermute
Yahoo
02-06-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Post Pectra 'Malicious' Ethereum Contracts Are Trying to Drain Wallets, But to No Avail: Wintermute
Malicious Ethereum contracts designed to drain wallets with weak security aren't profiting from the operation, crypto market maker Wintermute said Friday, identifying these contracts as "CrimeEnjoyors." The whole issue is tied to the Ethereum Improvement Proposal (EIP)-7702, part of the Pectra upgrade that went live early last month. It allows regular Ethereum addresses, secured by private keys, to temporarily operate as smart contracts, facilitating batched transactions, password authentication and spending limits. The regular Ethereum addresses delegate control of their wallets to smart contracts, granting them permission to manage or move their funds. While it has simplified the user experience, it has also created a risk of malicious contracts draining funds. As of Friday, more than 80% of delegations made through EIP-7702 involved reused, copy-and-paste contracts designed to automatically scan and identify weak wallets for potential theft. "Our Research team found that over 97% of all EIP-7702 delegations were authorized to multiple contracts using the same exact code. These are sweepers, used to automatically drain incoming ETH from compromised addresses," Wintermute said on X. "The CrimeEnjoyor contract is short, simple, and widely reused. This copy-pasted bytecode now represents the majority of all EIP-7702 delegations. It's funny, dark, and fascinating all at once," the market maker added. Notable cases include a wallet that lost nearly $150,000 through malicious batched transactions in a fishing attack, as anti-scam tracker Scam Sniffer noted. Still, the large-scale money drain has not been profitable for the attackers. The CrimeEnjoyors spent approximately 2.88 ETH to authorize around 79,000 addresses. One particular address –0x89383882fc2d0cd4d7952a3267a3b6dae967e704 – handled more than half of these authorizations, with 52,000 permissions granted to it. Per Wintermute's researcher, the stolen ether can be traced by analyzing the code of these contracts. For the above example, the ETH is destined to flow the address –0x6f6Bd3907428ae93BC58Aca9Ec25AE3a80110428. However, as of Friday, it had no inbound ETH transfers. The researcher added that this pattern appears consistent across other CrimeEnjoyors as well.
Crypto Insight
02-06-2025
- Business
- Crypto Insight
Wintermute's ‘CrimeEnjoyor' to flag Ethereum's wallet-draining contracts
Ethereum users will be warned of a new attack capable of draining their wallets, as crypto market maker Wintermute says it has created code that injects a warning into verified malicious contracts. Wintermute's code, dubbed 'CrimeEnjoyor,' prints a warning within malicious Ethereum contracts that are 'designed to auto-sweep funds' from wallets with leaked private keys, it said in a May 30 X post. The warning reads that the malicious contract 'is used by bad guys to automatically sweep all incoming ETH' and prominently warns to 'NOT SEND ANY ETH.' The malicious contracts exploit a feature introduced in Ethereum's Pectra upgrade, called Ethereum Improvement Proposal-7702 (EIP-7702), that allows users to temporarily delegate control of their wallets to smart contracts, the firm said. Wintermute said that its research team found 'over 97% of all EIP-7702 delegations were authorized to multiple contracts using the same exact code.' 'These are sweepers, used to automatically drain incoming ETH from compromised addresses,' it explained. Wintermute said it to make the CrimeEnjoyor code show up in the malicious contracts, it reversed their Ethereum Virtual Machine bytecode into human-readable Solidity code and publicly verified it. 'This one copy-pasted bytecode now accounts for the majority of all EIP-7702 delegations. It's funny, bleak, and fascinating at the same time.' EIP-7702 is optional, but transparency tools needed EIP-7702 is an opt-in feature and is not required to perform basic Ethereum operations like native token transfers. Wintermute said that while EIP-7702 expands Ethereum's capabilities, a lack of verification makes it more difficult to distinguish legitimate infrastructure from malicious exploitation, particularly for new users. 'With more compromised contracts tagged, more activity can be surfaced and more users can be protected.' One Ethereum user who tapped EIP-7702 lost $146,550 by signing several malicious batched transactions on May 23, blockchain security firm Scam Sniffer pointed out at the time. A total of 12,329 EIP-7702 transactions have been made since the Pectra upgrade went live on Ethereum at the start of epoch 364032 on May 7. Pectra also introduced two other significant upgrades. The first, EIP-725, increased the validator staking limit from 32 Ether to 2,048 ETH to make operations easier for large stakers. Pectra also introduced EIP-7691, which increases the number of data blobs per block with the aim of improving scalability on Ethereum layer 2s and reducing transaction fees. Source:
Business Mayor
24-05-2025
- Business
- Business Mayor
AAVE whale's $15 mln buy points to recovery – Can it hold $270?
A whale re-entered the market, buying $15M in AAVE after selling 184.4 WBTC via Wintermute OTC. Exchange data revealed three consecutive days of negative Netflow, indicating strong buying pressure across the board. After rallying to a local high of $270, Aave [AAVE] faced strong rejection and retraced. The altcoin dropped to a low of $239. For some investors, however, the pullback opened a window of opportunity—bringing both retail and whales back into the fold. For starters, according to on-chain analyst Ember, a whale that offloaded 184.4 WBTC worth $20.4 million through Wintermute OTC the previous day has returned to the market. In the past 24 hours, the whale accumulated $15 million worth of AAVE via Wintermute, acquiring 57,715 tokens at an average price of $259.9. The whale has been holding AAVE for the past two years, with a total spend of $30.8 million to acquire these tokens. Currently, this whale sits in a floating profit of $26.32 million. Source: IntoTheBlock Besides this whale activity, AAVE whales are highly active in the market with a higher Large Holders Capital Inflows. A higher inflow from whales indicates increased accumulation. After dropping to 89k, whale capital inflow rose to 224.87k in the past day, suggesting that whales are increasingly buying the altcoin. Source: IntoTheBlock Furthermore, large holders' Netflow remained positive. Over the past day, Netflow from whales has surged from 1.4k to 26.86k. A positive netflow suggests that whales are buying more than they are selling, having offloaded 198k AAVE tokens over this period. Source: CryptoQuant Additionally, this buying spree is not only isolated among whales but across all market participants. Read More OKX Approved: A Win For Singapore's Crypto Ambitions? On the exchange level, AAVE has registered three straight days of negative Netflow, implying more withdrawals than deposits. When this trend persists for a sustained period, it reflects strong bullish sentiments among investors. Price reaction and outlook As expected, increased accumulation has positively impacted the altcoin's price movement. In fact, the token climbed to a daily high of $262 before settling around $260, marking a 1.73% 24-hour gain. With the altcoin showing signs of recovery from its recent decline, it suggested that increased accumulation can push prices higher. Therefore, if the market sentiment is witnessed over the past day, we could see the altcoin make more gains. With buyers holding the ground, AAVE will reclaim $270 where it has faced rejection and attempt $284 resistance. Subsequently, if buyers retake the market, the altcoin could drop to $231 support.
Axios
21-05-2025
- Business
- Axios
Bitcoin charts new all-time high, over $109,565
Bitcoin set a new all-time high Wednesday, breaking its record from around the time of the inauguration in January. Why it matters: This bull run is behaving differently from past crypto booms — most notably, the retreat from the recent high has not led to massive losses. Bitcoin dropped about 30% between January and April, as investors pulled back in a risk-off trade amid economic uncertainty driven by tariff policies — but that's a much lighter retreat from prior collapses that saw losses of over 80%. By the numbers: As of this writing, the new high on CoinGecko was $109,565, less than $800 above the prior high. According to Wintermute, a major market maker, the new level to watch is $110,000. Between the lines: A crucial part of the bitcoin success story since last year has been the launch of bitcoin ETFs. CoinShares, which tracks publicly traded instruments that contain cryptocurrency, noted that bitcoin funds have fully recovered the assets under management they lost earlier this spring. These instruments might be a crucial part of the reason that bitcoin has a life preserver protecting it from its past massive falls. Yes, but: This cycle is different in another crucial way. In prior crypto bull cycles, even as bitcoin's value rises to new heights, other tokens have also experienced wild runs, which often drives more enthusiasm from traders (professional and otherwise). But it's been years since the last all-time high for two other cryptocurrencies that played major roles in both the 2021 and 2017 cycles: ether (ETH) and dogecoin (DOGE). (This could still change — analyst reports have been suggesting that a shift could be ahead.) What we're watching: September or October.
Arabian Post
15-05-2025
- Business
- Arabian Post
Wintermute Deepens U.S. Ties with New York Headquarters
Wintermute, a prominent algorithmic trading firm in the digital asset sector, has inaugurated its U.S. headquarters in New York City, marking a significant step in its global expansion strategy. This move positions the firm closer to American financial markets and regulatory bodies, enhancing its engagement with U.S.-based partners. The establishment of the New York office aligns with Wintermute's objective to solidify its presence in the world's largest financial market. CEO Evgeny Gaevoy emphasized the strategic importance of this development, stating that the U.S. policy landscape has become more conducive to digital asset innovation. He noted that having a physical presence in New York enables the firm to engage more directly with institutional counterparties and respond swiftly to collaborative opportunities. As part of its U.S. expansion, Wintermute has appointed Ron Hammond as Head of Policy and Advocacy. Hammond brings nearly a decade of experience in cryptocurrency legislation, having previously served as the Senior Director of Government Relations at the Blockchain Association. His tenure on Capitol Hill included drafting the Token Taxonomy Act, a bipartisan bill aimed at providing regulatory clarity for digital assets. Hammond's role at Wintermute involves leading policy engagement efforts across federal and state levels. He will provide technical input on legislation, contribute policy ideas, and coordinate responses to emerging proposals. Hammond expressed enthusiasm about joining Wintermute, highlighting the firm's potential to contribute meaningfully to the development of the U.S. digital asset regulatory framework. Wintermute's decision to establish a U.S. headquarters comes amid a broader trend of crypto firms expanding into the American market, driven by evolving regulatory clarity and institutional adoption. The firm reports an average daily trading volume exceeding $15 billion and operates across more than 60 centralized and decentralized exchanges. Its services include over-the-counter trading and liquidity provision, catering to a global clientele. Arabian Post – Crypto News Network
