Yes, you read that right.
The irony? The app gave a warning to the user to reconsider. Apparently, the interface flashed warnings about “extraordinary slippage” and severe price impact. It even forced the trader to check a confirmation box acknowledging the risk before allowing the transaction to proceed. Think of it as the financial equivalent of a casino asking, “Are you absolutely sure you want to bet the house?”
The trader tapped “yes” anyway.
In fact, the order even received a 0.7% improvement from Cow Swap’s auction mechanics. That tiny bonus is like getting a free mint on the Titanic.
Still, the trade went through.
Kulechov emphasized the uncomfortable but unavoidable truth: the system didn’t malfunction. The user explicitly approved the risk.
Yes, the protocol plans to refund about $600,000 in fees—a generous gesture, though it barely dents the crater left behind.
The engineer added:
“All the interactions were also verified via internal analytics, and the user even received a 0.7% surplus, confirming the swap mechanics worked exactly as intended. Thanks to our open-source nature, anyone can reproduce this. So, the price impact warning was displayed. The checkbox was checked, sadly.”
Your keys, your responsibility. Even when the checkbox begs you not to click it.
FAQ What happened in the $50 million Aave trade?A trader swapped about $50.4 million in aEthUSDT for AAVE through the Aave app and received only 324 tokens due to extreme price impact and liquidity constraints. Did Aave malfunction during the transaction?No—the interface displayed multiple warnings about extraordinary slippage, and the trader confirmed the risk before executing the swap. Where did most of the lost value go?On-chain data shows a MEV searcher captured much of the value and paid nearly 16,927 ETH to a block builder to include the transaction bundle. Will the trader get any money back?Aave plans to return roughly $600,000 in fees collected from the trade, though the vast majority of the loss remains seemingly unrecoverable.
