Key Takeaways:
- Poly Networks, a blockchain interoperability network, was target of hackers who stole $600 million of digital currencies.
- However, the hackers returned the entire stolen amount after the network threatened legal action.
- Now, Poly Network has offered a job offer to the whitehat hacker.
NEW DELHI (CoinChapter.com) — Poly Network, the target of a $600 million heist last week, has announced that it will not take any legal action against the culprit. Moreover, in a rather surprising turn of events, the cross-chain interoperability platform offered the hacker a job as its Chief Security Advisor.
Along with the job offer, Poly Network also rewarded the hacker, dubbed Mr. White Hat, a bounty of $500,000. For now, there has been no response to the job offer.
Quis Custodiet Poly Network?
Poly Network became the target of the largest heist in blockchain history when hackers exploited a weakness in its contract calls. The job offer and the $500,000 bounty are part of charm tactics that Poly is using to gain access to more than $200 million of funds.
Related: Poly Network hacker returns $610 million.
Though the mystery hacker started returning funds, he or she has declined to relinquish full control over an account that currently holds $235 million of crypto assets.
The DeFi network requested the hacker transfer the ‘keys’ (an alphanumeric string that acts as an access key) back to them. In addition to the bounty, Poly sweetened the pot by including an opportunity for the hacker to become its Chief Security Advisor.
Mr. White Hat claims to be an ethical hacker, a person who specializes in cybersecurity. As such, the job offer makes sense since the hacker claimed they were trying to expose the flaw in Poly’s security. Earlier, the hacker moved a part of the loot to a joint account but is yet to grant Poly access to the accounts.
Currently, Poly has control over $330 million of the stolen cryptocurrencies. While the DeFi firm said it was thankful to the hacker for highlighting shortcomings in its security, it emphasized that the return of the stolen funds remains its priority.
It is unclear why the hacker is not granting Poly access to the funds. However, a person claiming to be the hacker shared on Twitter that they will provide the key once “everyone is ready.”
What Happened With Poly?
On August 10, hackers attacked Poly Network, a decentralized finance company. It is still not clear if the attack was a work of a single hacker or a group. Nonetheless, the culprits siphoned off Ether ($273 million), Binance Smart Chain ($253 million), and Polygon’s MATIC ($85 million).
Also Read: Crypto maxis criticized for promoting Bitcoin amid the Afghanistan crisis.
The hackers established communication with Poly network, sharing their intention of returning the stolen funds. Poly also offered a $500,000 bug bounty to the hackers. In detail, people who report bugs to software companies receive such bounties.
After inintially turning down the offer, the hacker later said he might consider taking the bounty ‘as a bonus for public hackers.’. Poly Network also announced the launch of a general bug bounty program, with a reward of $100,000 per bug.
Poly network also backtracked from the threat of legal action that it promised earlier.
DeFi companies claim that decentralization and automated networks make transactions easier, safer, and faster. However, the Poly incident highlights the difficulty for hacked networks to retrieve their lost assets. As such, the firm’s bug bounty program might help root out any chunks in their armour.
