'White Hat' hacker has returned most of the stolen $600 million crypto tokens, says Poly Network

At $600 million, however, the Poly Network theft far outstripped the record $474 million in criminal losses that were registered by the entire decentralized finance (DeFi) sector from January to July, according to crypto intelligence company CipherTrace.

The hackers behind one of the biggest ever digital coin heists that targeted cryptocurrency platform Poly Network have returned nearly all of the $610 million-plus they stole.

Referred to as Mr White Hat by the Poly Network, the "ethical hackers" who generally aims to expose cyber vulnerabilities, upon the return of the funds, has "transferred to the multi-signature wallet" controlled by the hacker and the Poly Network team.

The only remaining tokens to be returned are the $33 million in tether stablecoins frozen earlier in the week by cryptocurrency firm Tether, Poly Network said.

"The repayment process has not yet been completed. To ensure the safe recovery of user asset, we hope to maintain communication with Mr. White Hat and convey accurate information to the public," Poly Network tweeted.

On August 10, the hackers started returning the stolen coins, leading some blockchain analysts to speculate that they might have found it too difficult to launder stolen cryptocurrency on such a scale.

Later that day, the hackers said in digital messages, also shared by Elliptic,  a London-based blockchain analysis provider, that they had perpetrated the attack "for fun" and wanted to "expose the vulnerability" before others could exploit it and that it was "always" the plan to return the tokens.

At $600 million, however, the Poly Network theft far outstripped the record $474 million in criminal losses that were registered by the entire decentralized finance (DeFi) sector from January to July, according to crypto intelligence company CipherTrace.

The theft illustrates the risks of the mostly unregulated DeFi sector, said crypto experts. DeFi platforms allow users to conduct transactions, usually in cryptocurrency, without traditional gatekeepers such as banks or exchanges.

[Input from Reuters]