Odaily Planet Daily reports that a crypto user lost approximately $50 million in a token swap transaction on Thursday. On-chain data shows that the user exchanged about $50.43 million worth of aEthUSDT for aEthAAVE via CoW Protocol. Due to insufficient liquidity in the relevant pool, the trade experienced a slippage of over 99%, resulting in the user receiving only around 327 aEthAAVE, worth approximately $36,000. The difference was captured by arbitrage traders and network intermediaries.
Aave founder Stani Kulechov posted on X that the user purchased AAVE with $50 million in USDT via the Aave interface. Due to the unusually large order size, the interface issued an extreme slippage warning and required the user to confirm. The user accepted the warning on their mobile device and proceeded with the trade. Kulechov stated that the CoW Swap router functioned as expected, following industry-standard procedures, but the outcome was clearly undesirable. Kulechov added that Aave plans to contact the user and refund approximately $6 million in fees collected from this transaction.
Several days before this incident, approximately $27 million in positions on Aave were liquidated, with some market participants suggesting the liquidation may have been related to a temporary pricing issue with wstETH.