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In
a statement it thanked the hacker - who it dubbed a "white hat",
sector jargon for an ethical hacker who generally aims to expose
cyber vulnerabilities - who had returned the bulk of the funds
for "helping us improve Poly Network’s security".
The network also said it hoped "Mr. White Hat" would contribute
to the blockchain sector’s continued development upon accepting
the $500,000 reward, which it had offered as part of
negotiations around the return of the digital coins.
The statement did not specify the form in which it would pay the
$500,000. It said the hacker had responded to the offer but did
not say if it was accepted.
On Thursday digital messages shared on Twitter by Tom Robinson,
chief scientist and co-founder of crypto tracking firm Elliptic,
showed a person claiming to have perpetrated the hack had said
Poly Network offered him the bounty to return the stolen assets.
A lesser-known name in the world of crypto, Poly Network is a
decentralized finance (DeFi) platform that facilitates
peer-to-peer transactions with a focus on allowing users to
transfer or swap tokens across different blockchains.
The as-yet 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.
According to Friday's statement, the hacker has returned $340
million worth of assets and transferred the bulk of the rest to
a digital wallet jointly controlled by them and Poly Network.
The remainder, held in tether, was frozen by the cryptocurrency
firm behind the stablecoin.
"After communicating with Mr. White Hat, we have also come to a
more complete understanding regarding how the situation unfolded
as well as Mr. White Hat’s original intention," the statement
said, without giving further details.
Poly Network announced the hack on Tuesday, but the following
day said the hackers had begun returning the digital coins they
had taken.
The hackers said in digital messages shared by Elliptic that
they had perpetrated the attack for fun and that it was always
the plan to return the tokens.
Some blockchain analysts have speculated however they might have
found it too difficult to launder stolen cryptocurrency on such
a scale.
(Reporting by Alun John in Hong Kong and Tom Westbrook in
Singapore; Editing by David Holmes)
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