Aave to Refund $600,000 to User Whose Slippage Loss Exceeded $50 Million

March 13th, Aave founder Stani.eth responded to an incident where a user incurred over $50 million in slippage losses while purchasing AAVE: Given the exceptionally large size of the single order, the Aave interface—like most trading platforms—warns users of unusual slippage and requires explicit confirmation via a checkbox. The user acknowledged the warning on a mobile device, accepted the high slippage risk, and proceeded with the trade, ultimately receiving only around 324 AAVE. Transactions require checkbox confirmation to explicitly accept risk before proceeding. CoW Swap’s router functioned as intended, and the integration adhered to industry-standard specifications. However, while the user was able to complete the trade, the outcome was clearly far from optimal. Similar incidents do occur in DeFi, but this transaction’s scale is far larger than typical in the space. We sympathize with the user and will attempt to reach out to them to refund the $600,000 fee charged in the transaction. The key takeaway: While DeFi should remain open and permissionless, allowing users to trade freely, the industry can still implement additional protective measures to better safeguard users. Our team will explore ways to enhance these protections moving forward.