Hacker Returns R8.8 Billion Stolen in Cryptocurrency, Refuses Reward of Millions

• A brilliant hacker on Tuesday, August 11, stole R8.8 billion in cryptocurrency from Poly Network
• The company pleaded with the hacker to return the money and even offered them a reward for doing so
• As of Friday, August 13, almost all money had been returned bar R485 million, a lot more than the reward offered by the company

A hacker who stole R8.8 billion in cryptocurrency from decentralised finance platform Poly Network has returned nearly all the money.

In response, the company offered a reward R7.2 million, but the hacker rejected it, saying they did not need it.

The network said that the hacker was yet to return $33.4m of stolen tether tokens because they had frozen it.

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The cryptocurrency dealer said it was upgrading its systems to ensure no such incident occurs again in future.

"We have completed the necessary fixes, and are working with multiple security & audit groups to go over the code. We also plan a global bounty program to encourage more security agencies to participate in the audit of #PolyNetwork's core functions," it said.

Poly Network pleads with hacker to return money

Briefly News earlier reported the firm pleaded with the hacker to return the huge amount which it said was from tens of thousands of crypto community members.

The platform confirmed the incident in a statement on Tuesday, August 11.

"The amount of money you hacked is the biggest in defi history. Law enforcement in any country will regard this as a major economic crime and you will be pursued.

"It is very unwise for you to do any further transactions. The money you stole is from tens of thousands of crypto community members... you should talk to us to work out a solution," the statement read.

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The network stated the hackers exploited a vulnerability between contract calls. According to a report by CNN, the identity of the hackers were not immediately established.

It, however, emerged that the hackers said they did it 'for fun' and chose to conceal their identity.

"I take the responsibility to expose the vulnerability before any insiders hiding and exploiting it!" the attacker said.

"I understood the risk of exposing myself even if I don't do evil. So I used temporary email, IP or _so called_ fingerprint, which was untraceable. I prefer to stay in the dark and save the world."

Source: Briefly News