Six hacker wallets linked to a Coinbase theft lost over $13.4 million after panic-selling Ethereum

Six hacker-controlled wallets have reportedly lost more than $13.4 million after panic-selling Ethereum holdings during Friday’s crypto market downturn. 

According to blockchain analytics firm Lookonchain, the hackers collectively sold 7,816 ETH worth $29.14 million at an average price of $3,728, locking in a loss of $3.37 million on the latest round of trades.

These hackers panic-sold 7,816 $ETH($29.14M) at $3,728 during the market drop, losing another $3.37M!

In total, 6 hacker wallets have lost over $13.4M recently from buying high and selling low on $ETH! https://t.co/OMoK1lw40Ohttps://t.co/LPrQauiW5C pic.twitter.com/D58dGXjJ9W

— Lookonchain (@lookonchain) October 18, 2025

The crypto transactions tracker had reported on Tuesday about the hacker’s poorly timed trades, where they purchased 9,240 ETH valued at $39.45 million when the token traded near $4,269. 

After prices started to tank late Tuesday, the exploiters sold 8,638 ETH for $32.5 million at $3,764 per coin, losing $5.5 million. The combined “loss on investment” from the mentioned transactions have left the six wallets down over $13 million in just a few days.

Crypto market slump drove hackers into panic selling

Blockchain data shows the hackers repeatedly buying into price spikes and exiting in panic when the market turns against them. Per Arkham intelligence snapshots shared by Lookonchain on X Friday, the wallets sold 8,638 ETH worth $32.5 million last week. 

They later repurchased 7,816 ETH for $32.5 million at a higher average entry price of over $4,000, only to dump the same holdings again during yesterday’s sell-off.

Lookonchain’s tracking shows the wallets interacting with decentralized protocols, moving millions of dollars’ worth of ETH and stablecoin DAI on the CoW Protocol, with some transfers exceeding $6 million in value.

One of the hacker wallets received inflows of over 6.9 million DAI and later swapped 1,815 ETH in separate settlement transactions. Other wallets linked to the exploiters conducted transactions worth between $3.8 million and $6.9 million each within a 15-hour window.

The losses extended to an alleged Coinbase funds thief address, whom investigators, pseudonymous analysts Specter Analyst and ZachXBT, confirmed matches the one used by a hacker who stole 400 Bitcoin from the crypto exchange, then worth roughly $35 million.

According to their findings, the hacker moved portions of the stolen Bitcoin into Ethereum positions in early October to conceal funds. That same address is now among those taking losses as it offloads ETH to alleviate the pain of the broader market drop.

Current market sentiment:

Blow off tops or cycles end in pure euphoria and one side analysis with great looking prospects, yet this current move was driven by fear built on top of partial optimism in stocks, yet crypto remained depressed.

Overall taking a look at different… pic.twitter.com/iyQDwIaEbb

— Sonny Mulder (@MulderSonny) October 17, 2025

The second-largest coin by market cap is trading in the red, but Ether is up b.2% the last seven days, and 22% below its all-time high value of over $4,900. According to Coinglass data, approximately $269 million in ETH long bets were liquidated on Friday.

“Ethereum has already broken down the Descending Triangle and is looking bearish,” said crypto trading group catalyst on X.

Market-wide sell-off continues for the second Friday

The hackers’ losses coincided with a crypto market correction for a consecutive end of business week that erased more than $100 billion in total capitalization. Ethereum fell 1.5% over the period, trading near $3,850 at the time of this publication, while Bitcoin dropped 6.2% to around $103,850, before rebounding back to the $106,000 mark.

The market turbulence appears to have been amplified by an uptick in leveraged trading activity. According to CryptoQuant contributor Amr Tah, Binance derivatives traders witnessed a 30% surge in open interest (OI) over the past week, one of the largest increases in recent months.

“When OI rises this fast, it usually means money is rushing into derivatives,” Taha denoted. “Such spikes often indicate increased risk-taking, with many traders opening leveraged longs or shorts at the same time.”

At the same time, Binance funding rates, which is the cost of maintaining perpetual futures positions, have flipped into deeply negative territory, which means too many traders are making short bets. The market is on the verge of a squeeze. The bearish sentiment is currently dominating the market because traders are heavily betting on further downside.

Get $50 free to trade crypto when you sign up to Bybit now