Cryptocurrency theft history: hacker returns part of stolen

The person responsible for the record-breaking cryptocurrency theft began hacking digital tokens, a decentralized finance company, Poly Network, reported Wednesday in a scam estimated at more than $600 million.

The “total value… of assets returned by the hacker” is $4.77 million, the company wrote on Twitter. However, according to several crypto-asset research firms, such as The Block, more than 250 million were already returned by Wednesday morning.

The stolen items, which were reported by Poly Network on Tuesday, consist of tokens from Ethereum, BinanceChain, and OxPolygon. The experts at The Block estimated the value at $611 million.

In a message to hackers posted on Twitter on Tuesday, Poly Network urged hackers to “hand over the assets.”

“The amount of funds it has hacked is the largest in the history of decentralized finance,” the company said. “This money comes from tens of thousands of members of the crypto community.”

The company published the addresses used by hackers and invited crypto wallet holders to “blacklist” them.

SlowMist, a cybersecurity company, let them know that they are in the way of the hackers. “Our team found the attacker’s email, IP address, and digital traces,” she said on her blog.

– A moral pirate? –

Transfers of bitcoin and other crypto assets are based on a technology — the blockchain or “blockchain” — and a philosophy: cutting out intermediaries like banks, and direct user-to-user transactions. The actors in decentralized finance are therefore closely following the issue.

“Instead of looting, be an ethical hacker! You are important to the future of decentralization, to standardize blockchain and cryptocurrencies and make them more secure!” he tweeted at @zero1_flux, with a link to Polynet’s message to the hacker.

BinomiaPool, which is developing a solution for secure transfers, replied, “I offer a 5-10% bonus for crypto hacks.” “It could be a win-win solution: hackers don’t go to jail. Society suffers acceptable losses. Code is getting better.”

Some industries encourage so-called “white hat” piracy practices. It consists, for companies or organizations, of offering rewards to these hackers for finding flaws in their systems and then boosting them.

“The authorities of any country will consider your misdeeds a major economic crime and you will be prosecuted. (…) You should talk to us to find a solution,” Polynet insisted in his letter.

By the end of April, crypto thefts, hacks and fraud totaled $432 million, according to CipherTrace.

“This number may seem small compared to years ago, but if we look in more detail, we see an alarming trend: hacks in decentralized finance now account for more than 60% of the total volume,” the specialist notes.