The cryptocurrency platform Poly Network had lost $610 million in a hack earlier this week. The platform has confirmed that it has offered the hacker or hackers a $500,000 “bug bounty .”In a statement, it thanked the hacker – who it dubbed a “white hat,” sector jargon for an ethical hacker who generally aims to expose cyber vulnerabilities – who had returned the bulk of the funds for “helping us improve Poly Network’s security.”
Poly Network hopes that that hacker would contribute to the blockchain sector’s continued development.
The Poly Network also said in the statement that it hoped “Mr. White Hat” would contribute to the blockchain sector’s continued development upon accepting the $500,000 reward, which it had offered as part of negotiations around the return of the digital coins. As of now, the hacker has only returned less than half of the $613 million that it stole from the network. However, the statement did not specify the form in which it would pay the $500,000.
Hackers did not confirm if they accepted the offer.
The Poly Network said the hacker had responded to the offer but did not say if it was accepted. Poly Network is a decentralized finance (DeFi) platform that facilitates peer-to-peer transactions, focusing on allowing users to transfer or swap tokens across different blockchains. As reported earlier, the unidentified hacker or hackers appear to have exploited a vulnerability in the digital contracts Poly Network uses to move assets between different blockchains, according to blockchain forensics company Chainalysis. The hacker so far has returned $340 million worth of assets and transferred the bulk of the rest to a digital wallet jointly controlled by them and Poly Network.
