Poly Network hacker returns almost all stolen cryptocurrencies
Poly Network, the crypto platform that lost $610 million earlier this week after a major hack, appears to be recovering all stolen cryptocurrencies. The platform is said to have offered the hacker a $500,000 reward, but the hacker appears to have declined this offer.
Poly Network thanks the hacker in a statement, in which the platform calls the perpetrator an ethical hacker and writes that the hacker is therefore not held liable, Reuters news agency also reports. Poly Network would also hope that the hacker continues to cooperate in the crypto sector. After contacting the hacker, Poly Network would have obtained ‘a more complete insight’ into how the situation could have arisen and what the hacker’s intentions were.
The platform then allegedly offered the hacker a $500,000 “fully legal bug bounty,” but Tom Robinson of crypto analytics firm Elliptic writes on Twitter that the hacker will not claim it. The hacker has confirmed that he had received an offer from Poly Network, but would not have responded and “instead” returned all the money. The perpetrator previously indicated that he was not interested in money, but later asked for donations after he or she stated that he or she would return the full amount.
Messages from Poly Network and the hacker about a possible bug bounty. Images via Tom Robinson on Twitter
By now, the hacker is said to have deposited virtually all of the stolen cryptocurrency into a multisig wallet that is under the control of the hacker and Poly Network. The hacker cannot return the remaining $33 million in Tether himself, because the creator of that cryptocurrency froze that amount after the hack.
Poly Network is likely to get all cryptocurrencies back with this, although the refund process is not yet fully completed, according to the platform. “To achieve a full recovery of both assets and cross-chain services, the team will continue to actively communicate with Mr. White Hat to receive the final key,” it reads. a tweet from the platform.
Poly Network made the hack public on Monday, after a hacker managed to steal $610 million in cryptocurrency through a vulnerability between contract calls. These included $273 million in Ethereum tokens, $253 million in tokens on the Binance Smart Chain and $85 million in USDC tokens on the Polygon network. With this amount, it would be one of the biggest hacks in the decentralized finance world of all time. The hacker soon claimed that he or she only wanted to secure the tokens against the vulnerability and would refund the entire amount.
A statement from Poly Network. Image via Twitter