Hackers steal $600m in cryptocurrency

Poly Network posted on Twitter what they believe to be one of the largest thefts of cryptocurrency ever. An estimated $600m has been taken.

The message urges the hackers to get in touch and return the hacked assets as it is a major crime perpetrated at the expense of ordinary people.

Poly Network, a decentralised finance, or Defi, provider facilitates the transfer of tokens between networks. They have asked various exchanges to block deposits. They are offering help, but as the chief executive of Binance, Changpeng Zhao, said “There are no guarantees”.

Breaches in the Defi sector have hit a record high of $474m this year and last year losses for the entire cryptocurrency market were $1.9bn.

On the 11th August Poly Network posted that the hacker had returned, thus far, $260m. The hacker has claimed it was never their intention to keep the funds, but to expose security flaws in the system. Experts are treating that claim with some scepticism, wondering if the return is more motivated by the amount of attention and the possibility of being traced by law enforcement.  

Photo by Nick Chong on Unsplash