Aave Labs CEO reported that a user attempting to purchase AAVE tokens by depositing $50 million in USDT through the Aave interface received only approximately $36,000 worth of tokens in return, resulting in a loss exceeding $49.96 million.
The transaction was executed on CoW Swap, a decentralized exchange aggregator, which stated the swap was completed in accordance with the signed transaction parameters. The significant discrepancy between the expected and actual token value suggests either extreme slippage, unfavorable pricing at execution, or a potential issue with order routing through the protocol's interface.
The incident highlights ongoing risks in decentralized finance infrastructure, particularly when executing large-volume trades through automated market makers and swap aggregators. The case underscores the importance of slippage protection mechanisms and transaction preview accuracy for institutional-sized positions in the DeFi ecosystem.