© Associated Press
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Hackers behind one of the biggest thefts of cryptocurrencies so far have returned more than 40% of stolen assets worth $ 613 million. This was announced yesterday by the affected company, Reuters reported.
Poly Network, a decentralized financial platform, wrote on Twitter that it had received $ 260 million in stolen funds, but $ 353 million remained unpaid. As early as yesterday, the company called on the perpetrators to return the stolen funds and threatened them with legal action.
Hackers have exploited a vulnerability in digital contracts that Poly Network uses to move assets between different blockchain platforms, according to Chainalysis, a company that tracks blockchain crimes. According to her and Elliptic, a cryptocurrency tracking company, the man, who claims to be behind the attack, explains that he did it to “have fun” and also because he wanted to “reveal the vulnerability” before others could benefit. “The plan has always been to return the tokens,” the alleged hacker wrote, and digital messages shared by the companies added, adding: “I’m not particularly interested in money.”
The hackers or the hacker were not identified and Reuters could not verify the authenticity of the messages. According to Tom Robinson, co-founder of Elliptic, the decision to return the money may have been caused by a headache that would cause the laundering of stolen cryptocurrencies on such a scale. According to him, “even if you can steal cryptocurrencies, laundering and cashing them are extremely difficult” due to the transparency of the blockchain and the widespread use of blockchain analysis by financial institutions.
CEO of cryptocurrency firm Tether told Twire that the company had frozen $ 33 million related to the theft, and executives at other cryptocurrencies were also trying to help.
The Poly Network attack follows losses from theft, hacking and fraud related to the decentralized funding sector, which reached a record high, according to cryptocurrency company CipherTrace. With more than $ 600 million, however, the theft of Poly Network far exceeded the criminal losses of 474 million, which according to CipherTrace were registered by the entire sector from January to July. The thefts illustrated the risks for the rather unregulated sector and may attract the attention of regulators, Reuters writes.
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