Poly Network Prepares for Hacker to Return Millions in Stolen Crypto

Poly Network – a computer network that allows users to transfer digital tokens across different blockchains – has set up three wallet addresses in the hopes that the hacker who drained about $600 million in crypto on Tuesday will keep his word and return at least some of the stolen funds.

• At about 4:00 UTC on Wednesday, the hacker said in a message embedded in a transaction on the Ethereum blockchain with himself that he was ready to return the funds. In another message, the hacker said he had failed to contact Poly Network and asked for a multisignature wallet to return the loot.
• The hacker's Polygon address sent $10,000 in USDC to one of the wallets Poly Network set up at 8:46 UTC.
• The hacker said he was already a "legend" after pulling off what some, including China-based Poly Network, have described as the largest hack ever of a decentralized finance (DeFi) network.
• Poly Network announced the heist on Tuesday evening on Twitter and posted three addresses on Binance Smart Chain, Ethereum, and Polygon where the funds were funneled. At the time, the accounts held more than $600 million in tokens, including USDC, shiba inu, wrapped ether, and wrapped bitcoin.
• At the time of writing, the three addresses hold just under $400 million after sending money to other addresses, including DeFi liquidity pool Ellipsis Finance.
• Poly Network has endorsed the analysis of security company SlowMist, which blames the cyberattack on a bug related to the protocol's cross-chain functions. Chinese company BlockSec has stated it's possible the hack resulted from a leaked private key.

Read more: Cross-Chain DeFi Site Poly Network Hacked; Hundreds of Millions Potentially Lost

UPDATE (9:15 UTC): Adds that hacker returned $10,000 USDC.