Crypto Whale Loses $50M in Botched AAVE Swap

Across Protocol Eyes C-Corp Switch | Nicolas le Jeune of Courtyard

Marco Manoppo & Karon Pangestu
March 13, 2026

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A crypto whale just torched nearly $50M on a bad swap, and the culprit wasn't a hacker. It was a checkbox. The incident is reigniting a long-overdue conversation about whether DeFi interfaces are anywhere near ready for the kind of money flowing through them.

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In Today's Email:

What Matters: Crypto Whale Loses $50M in Botched AAVE Swap 💸
Founders Highlight: Nicolas le Jeune of Courtyard 👨
Deal Flows: Across Protocol Eyes C-Corp Switch 👀

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Narratives: BTC Beats Gold

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WHAT MATTERS

Crypto Whale Loses $50M in Botched AAVE Swap

State of play: A crypto whale lost nearly $50M attempting to swap USDT for AAVE tokens through the Aave interface, receiving only about $36K worth of tokens in return.

The incident, which may be the largest slippage loss in crypto history, appears to stem from user error rather than a hack or exploit.
A user swapped $50M in USDT for AAVE but received only 324 AAVE (~$36K) after confirming a high-slippage warning on their mobile device.
Slippage occurs when a large order moves the market price during execution, resulting in a worse rate than expected.
CoW Swap, integrated with Aave, confirmed no exploit or malicious activity was involved and that price impact warnings were clearly displayed.
Aave Labs CEO Stani Kulechov expressed sympathy for the user and said the team is working to return $600K in fees collected from the transaction.

Why it matters: A $50M loss to slippage exposes a glaring UX failure in DeFi, where a single checkbox confirmation on mobile is all that stands between a user and financial ruin at scale.

Our take: A checkbox is not an adequate safeguard for a $50M transaction, and Aave's interface deserves scrutiny for allowing a single mobile tap to greenlight a trade of this magnitude.

For builders and investors: If your interface lets a user confirm a $50M trade with a single mobile tap and no hard stop, your UX is broken, not the user.

BUILDER-INVESTOR HIGHLIGHT

Nicolas le Jeune of Courtyard

Intro: Nicolas le Jeune is the Co-Founder and the CEO of Courtyard, a marketplace and tokenization service that enables anyone to easily own and trade physical collectibles on the blockchain.

Previous background: Nicolas spent 6 years across Google and YouTube, progressing from Account Executive and Territory Manager roles at Google Cloud, to Partner Operations and Strategic Partner Manager positions at YouTube.

The big idea: Nicolas through Courtyard aims to bring physical collectibles onto the blockchain so anyone can own, buy, and sell them with the transparency and liquidity of crypto, without worrying about storage or authenticity.

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INSIGHTS

Bitcoin ETFs Outpace Gold Amid Iran War

Source: BiTBO

Since the Iran war broke out late February, BTC and gold ETFs have seen sharply diverging flows, with investors rotating out of gold and into BTC. The shift has reversed gold's earlier 2026 advantage, though it hasn't erased gold's stronger run in Q4’25.

Since Feb. 27, GLD saw outflows of ~2.7% of assets while IBIT recorded inflows of ~1.5%, reversing gold ETFs' year-to-date lead over bitcoin ETFs.
Prior to the war, flows since October 2025 showed a rotation from BTC into gold, with IBIT seeing notable outflows while GLD attracted strong inflows.
Despite recent shifts, IBIT's total inflows since 2024 remain roughly double those of GLD over the same period.
Institutional investors had been rotating out of BTC, with rising short interest and put-to-call ratios in IBIT signaling growing demand for downside protection.
JPMorgan noted BTC volatility is compressing as institutional ownership deepens, reiterating a long-term price target of $266K.

DEAL FLOWS

Across Protocol Proposes Swapping Its Token for a C-Corp

Deal flows soared this week - we saw $290M+ in deals 💼

Risk Labs, the team behind Across Protocol, has proposed converting the project from a DAO/token structure into a traditional US C-corp, citing the DAO model as a growing obstacle to closing institutional partnerships.

Risk Labs says the DAO structure has hindered their ability to sign contracts and close enterprise deals, making a corporate transition necessary.
ACX holders would choose between converting to equity or selling their tokens for USDC.
ACX holders can exchange tokens for equity in the new entity "AcrossCo" at a 1:1 ratio, either directly (>5M ACX) or via a no-fee SPV (minimum ~250K ACX, ~$10K).
Holders who prefer to exit can sell ACX for USDC at $0.04375, a 25% premium to the 30-day average price, during a 6-month buyout window.
The proposal is currently a temperature check and requires a formal community vote via Snapshot, expected around April 2nd, before anything proceeds.

Deal flows in the past week:

Ark Labs, $5.2M Seed Round
Kled AI, $5.5M Seed Round
Utexo, $7.5M Seed Round
VeryAI, $10M Seed Round
Unitas Labs, $13.33M Seed Round
Zcash Open Development Lab, $25M Seed Round
Kast, $80M Series A Round
Cryptio, $45M Series B Round
Immunefi, Undisclosed $ Strategic Round
OP NET, $5M Funding Round
Kled AI, $3.3M Funding Round
Corastone, Undisclosed $ Funding Round
OmniPact, $50M Unknown Round

QUICK BITES

CFTC to set ‘rules of the road’ for prediction markets.
SEC & CFTC commit to work together on crypto policy.
Pump.fun becomes Solana's first $1B revenue platform.
Crypto whale loses nearly $50M swapping USDT for AAVE.
SEC working on 'narrower' exemption for tokenized securities.
Senate leader says Clarity Act unlikely to advance before April.
Ripple launches $750M share buyback at $50 billion valuation.
Bank of England signals openness to revising sterling stablecoin caps.
JPMorgan says BTC and gold ETFs show sharp flow divergence since Iran war.

NOTEWORTHY READS & MEME

Ehsan’s read on the $50M Incident on AAVE.
Paul Frambot’s read on Fixed Rates Will Take DeFi Beyond Crypto.
Mastercard’s read on The Next Phase of Crypto Will Be About Payments.

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Disclaimer: All the information presented in this publication and its affiliates is strictly for educational purposes only. It should not be construed or taken as financial, legal, investment, or any other form of advice.