Poly Network, the cryptocurrency platform that was targeted by hackers and robbed off USD600 million in one of the biggest-ever digital coin heists, said they were returned nearly all coins stolen from them.
Upon the return of the funds, the platform declared the hacker on Twitter as a ‘white hat’, referring to ethical hackers who generally aim to expose cyber vulnerabilities.
“The repayment process has not yet been completed. To ensure the safe recovery of user asset, we hope to maintain communication with Mr White Hat and convey accurate information to the public,” said Poly Network on Twitter.
Poly Network, which allows users to transfer or swap tokens across different blockchains, said on Tuesday it had been hit by the cyberheist, urging the culprits to return the stolen funds.
The still unidentified hacker, or hackers, appear to have exploited a vulnerability in the digital contracts Poly Network uses to move assets between different blockchains, according to blockchain forensics company Chainalysis.
The hackers said in digital messages, also shared by Elliptic, a London-based blockchain analysis provider, that they had perpetrated the attack “for fun” and wanted to “expose the vulnerability” before others could exploit it and that it was “always” the plan to return the tokens.
A person claiming to have perpetrated the hack said Poly Network offered him a USD500,000 bounty to return the stolen assets and promised that he would not be accountable for the incident, according to digital messages shared on Twitter by Tom Robinson, chief scientist and co-founder of Elliptic.
Robinson tweeted: “The Poly Network hacker is now saying that they were offered a $500k bounty to return the stolen assets – but that they will not be claiming it. (They have now returned pretty much all of the stolen assets – except the ~$33m in USDT frozen by tether).”
