Skip to main content

Home  »  Spotlight   »   Hacker returns all $610M of stolen PolyNetwork crypto

Hacker returns all $610M of stolen PolyNetwork crypto

The hacker responsible for what is thought to be one of the largest cryptocurrency thefts in history returned the remaining $610 million in stolen assets to Poly Network, with the company thanking the perpetrator or perpetrators for their cooperation. 

According to Gizmodo, in a blog post today, Poly Network announced the full return of a final allotment of approximately $141 million in tokens. Ethereum and Wrapped Bitcoin were among the items in the cache. "At this point, all the user assets that were transferred out during the incident have been fully recovered," the company said.  A further $33 million in frozen tether remains unclaimed, though the attacker does not appear to have control of those tokens. 

Poly Network claims to be in the fourth phase of an "Asset Recovery" roadmap as a result of the actions of "Mr. White Hat," the name given to the hacker jobs or hackers responsible for stealing and then returning the company's crypto hoard. Funds are being returned to users who have been affected by the breach. 

The decentralized finance platform was hacked earlier this month, and it made several attempts to recover the funds, including writing an open letter to the attacker or attackers. 

The hacker or hackers appeared to have changed their minds and began returning the assets in batches. Most of the tokens had returned to Poly Network's digital vaults by July 14, except $268 million, which was held in an account requiring keys from both the attacker and the company. According to the alleged hacker or hackers, the final key would be provided "when _everyone_ is ready" according to the alleged hacker. 

Poly Network tried to entice "Mr.White Hat" by offering a $500,000 "bug bounty" for discovering an apparent vulnerability in its system, as well as $50,000 in reward money for the remaining funds. The unnamed hacker was later given the title of "chief security advisor" by the company. Mr.White Hat turned down each offer, claiming that the original plan had been to return the tokens. 

Poly Network operates in the DeFi sector, which uses blockchain technologies to replicate traditional lending and trading systems. Among other services, the company allows customers to transfer assets from one blockchain to another. 

Source: AppleInsider