Hackers stole $600m (PS433m), what appears to have been the most major cryptocurrency heist ever.
Poly Network, a blockchain site, claimed hackers had exploited a vulnerability in their system and stolen thousands of digital tokens like Ether.
The hack is comparable in scale to recent breaches at significant exchanges like Coincheck or Mt Gox.
Poly Network stated in a letter that:
“The amount you have hacked money is one of the largest in decentralized financing history.”
This heist will be considered a significant economic crime by law enforcement authorities in all countries, and you will be prosecuted.
“The money that you stole is from tens to thousands of members of the crypto community, thus the people.”
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Poly Network stated that a preliminary investigation revealed that a hacker had exploited a vulnerability between contract calls.
After millions of dollars’ worth of tokens were transferred into separate cryptocurrency wallets, it urged different exchanges to stop storing the coins.
Around $267m worth of Ether currency, $252m worth of Binance coins, and approximately $85 million in USDC tokens were taken.
Changpeng Zhao was the chief executive at Binance. He said that his company was aware of hacking but couldn’t do so much. He stated that:
“The group was coordinating to all our security partners to proactive help.”
He added, “There are no guarantees.”
Poly Network, also known as Defi or decentralised finance, allows users to transfer tokens from one blockchain to another network.
Because cryptocurrency systems like Ether and Binance were created independently, they have not been used together.
According to a report by CipherTrace, fraud losses in the Defi industry reached an all-time high of $474m over the first seven months.
However, losses due to crime in the overall cryptocurrency marketplace dropped to $681m, compared to $1.9bn in 2020 and $4.5bn in 2019, respectively.
The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) charged Defi lender Blockchain Credit Partners and its top executives with raising $30 million through allegedly fraudulent offerings.
This is the first time that the SEC has acted in Defi space securities cases.
Reference: bbc
