A crypto trader suffered a loss of more than $50 million on March 12 when they executed a large order through Aave-wrapped USDT on the DeFi lending protocol’s swap interface, disregarding a slippage warning on their mobile device.
According to data from Etherscan, the trader swapped $50.43 million aEthUSDT for 327.24 aEthAAVE through CoW Protocol in Ethereum block 24,643,151. With AAVE’s current price at $111.52, the returned tokens were valued at approximately $36,100, resulting in a staggering loss of nearly $49.96 million compared to the initial order size.
This significant trade caught the attention of the crypto community due to its magnitude and involvement in one of the largest decentralized finance platforms. Aave, with over $1 trillion in total cumulative lending, is a prominent player in the DeFi space.
Following the incident, Aave and CoW Protocol announced plans to reimburse the affected user by returning approximately $600,000 in fees collected from the transaction. CoW Protocol also committed to refunding any fees sent to CoW DAO.
Blockchain analytics platform Lookonchain suggested that the wallet associated with the swap could belong to Garrett Jin, a well-known crypto trader known as BitcoinOG1011short. Lookonchain identified 13 wallets linked to Jin, which received USDC or USDT from Binance in February and then became active again in March, transferring funds to new wallets.
Notably, Jin was previously linked to a $735 million short position on Bitcoin made through Hyperliquid last year before President Donald Trump’s tariff announcement on China. Despite speculation of insider knowledge, Jin denied any connection to the Trump family, attributing the trade to client funds.
Although Jin has not confirmed his involvement in the $50 million loss, his history of large crypto trades has raised suspicions in the community.
In the aftermath of the trade, Ethereum’s execution chain participants profited from the spread generated by the order, with a MEV bot arbitraging the transaction across Uniswap and SushiSwap pools. This bot paid significant sums to various entities involved in the transaction, generating substantial revenue in the process.
Aave and CoW defended their platforms, stating that the user had received a clear warning before executing the order. Despite the significant loss, both protocols emphasized that the transaction proceeded as per the user’s instructions and did not indicate any protocol exploit or malicious behavior.
The incident highlighted the importance of improving user experience in DeFi platforms, with calls for stronger safeguards and clearer information on potential losses for oversized orders. Both Aave and CoW vowed to enhance their protocols to prevent similar occurrences in the future and prioritize user protection while maintaining autonomy.
