It’s a strange twist as crypto assets in the Poly Network security breach get fully recovered. The hacker involved in one of the largest cryptocurrency heists has finally returned the loot in its entirety.
DeFi platform Poly Network reported a hacking attack where it lost an estimated $600 Million in crypto assets two weeks ago. The firm said that on Monday, August 23, 2021, the attacker had released the private key for the last $141 Million. According to the cross-chain DeFi platform, the attack happened on Binance Smart Chain (BSC), Ethereum, and Polygon blockchains successively.
Thanks to Mr. White Hat’s cooperation
In a tweet shared by Wu Blockchain, the hacker apologized and claimed he only wanted to expose a security vulnerability in the Poly Network system. Referring to the hacker simply as “Mr. White Hat,” the firm said he had shared a private key to a multi-signature crypto wallet Monday morning. Poly Network said in a blog post:
“At this point, all the user assets that were transferred out during the incident have been fully recovered […] thanks to Mr. White Hat’s cooperation; Poly Network has officially entered the fourth phase of our roadmap ‘Asset Recovery.’ We are in the process of returning full asset control to users as swiftly as possible.”
Hacker constantly intended to return the cryptocurrency
Poly Network penned an open letter to the hackers as it made several efforts after the early August hacking incident. In an unexpected turn of events, the hacker started returning the stolen crypto in tranches. Most of the funds eventually found their way to the Poly Network’s digital wallets. However, the hacker kept the final key “until everyone was ready.”
The firm tried to persuade the hacker with a $500,000 “bug bounty” for discovering the vulnerability and an additional $50,000 in reward money. The firm also offered the position of “chief security adviser” to Mr. White Hat. However, the hacker declined both offers and insisted he constantly intended to return the cryptocurrency. The unusually talkative hacker concluded his message to Poly Network by saying:
“My actions, which may be considered weird, are my efforts to contribute to the security of the Poly project in my personal style […] the consensus was reached in a painful and obscure way, but it works.”
Tom is a freelance writer with over 10-years’ experience in content creation, blog writing, and SEO specializing in the blockchain and cryptocurrency niche. As a philosophical figurehead, he believes that to make our world a better place, we must invest in incorruptible products and procedures, of which Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies are leading examples.
