The cryptocurrencyA digital currency running on a blockchain and built with cryptography. Contrary to central-bank issued currency, cryptocurrency issuance rules are... world can be very wild, in so many ways. It’s not weird at all that some DeFi platforms get hacked often, but the recent attack on Poly Network is making history for several reasons. In the first place, this is considered the greatest DeFi hack in history, since over $613 million were stolen in the blink of an eye. Secondly, Poly’s team begged the hacker to return the money, and the hacker actually answered that prayer.
Poly Network is a DeFi protocol that swaps tokens across several blockchains, including BitcoinBitcoin is the first decentralized digital currency. It was created in 2009, by an anonymous founder or group of founders... More, Ethereum, and Binance Smart Chain (BSC). The assets involved in this huge attack were ETH, USDC, DAI, UNI, SHIB, FEI, MATIC, and several BSC tokens; all of them from general community members. The hacker transferred different amounts of each token involved to their own wallets until reaching the $613 million peak.
Besides, it seems like this time isn’t a flash loan attack or a private keyA cryptographic key that is used with an algorithm to encrypt and decrypt data. A cryptocurrency private key lets you... leak, as usual. According to the analysis by the security firm SlowMist, the hacker managed to change the keeper role in the attacked smart contract. This way, they could “construct a transactionA cryptocurrency transaction is an entry on the blockchain ledger, noting sender, receiver and number of coins transacted. at will and withdraw any amount of funds from the contract”.
As a result of this greatest DeFi hack, the Poly Network team published a statement to “urge” the hacker to return the stolen assets.
The publication was received with a lot of criticism and mockery by the community. For one side, there were users sending congratulations to the hacker and even asking Poly’s team to include them on the payroll. For the other, several community members took the opportunity to make their own requests to the hacker, leaving their walletA crypto wallet is a user-friendly software or hardware used to manage private keys. There are software wallets for desktop... addresses.
Greatest DeFi hacker returns the funds
Believe it or not, the hacker actually showed mercy. So, they sent back over $260 million as of August 11, if not the total stolen amount. The recovered assets include $3.3 million in Ethereum, $256 million in BSC tokens, and $1 million in Polygon. The rest would be $269 million in ETH and $84 million in MATIC.
Therefore, the hacker still possesses around $353 million from the attack. It’s not the greatest crypto hack in history, but it is one of them. With the original amount, the Poly Network hack would even surpass the (in)famous Coincheck attack back in 2018. Without it, it’s still in fourth place by amount robbed.
Despite the mess, the prices of Polygon and all the involved assets are climbing higher. That first asset is at $1.4 per coin, while ETH is over $3,200 per token. BNB is at $400, and UNI at $29 [CoinMarketCap]. The cryptocurrency market capitalization has grown by over 23% in the last week, unaffected by this huge attack.
Featured Image by Dr StClaire / Pixabay
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