User Loses $50 Million in a Single Trade Due to Extreme Slippage on Aave

According to CoinDesk, a user suffered a loss of approximately $50 million due to extreme slippage caused by insufficient liquidity pool depth while executing a single token swap via the Aave interface. On-chain data shows that the user attempted to exchange approximately $50.43 million worth of aEthUSDT for aEthAAVE via CoW Protocol. Due to extremely limited liquidity in the relevant trading pool, the transaction incurred over 99% slippage, resulting in the user receiving only about 327 aEthAAVE—worth roughly $36,000—while the remaining difference was swiftly captured by arbitrage bots and network intermediaries. Aave founder Stani Kulechov stated that the interface issued multiple warnings about the abnormal slippage prior to execution and required the user to explicitly confirm the risk by checking a box, which the user completed on a mobile device. He also noted that the CoW Swap router operated as expected and in line with industry norms, though the outcome was "clearly far from ideal." Kulechov added that Aave plans to contact the affected user and refund approximately $600,000 in transaction fee revenue generated from this trade.