Poly Network, a platform designed to carry out interoperability among several chains, has suffered a major hack resulting in the loss of $611 million in cryptocurrencies.
As a cross-chain protocol, Poly Network functions along with other blockchains like Ethereum, Polygon, Binance Smart Chain, and more. The hacker reportedly attacked several blockchains and initially kept over $600 million in three different addresses.
Poly Network tweeted, “We are sorry to announce that #PolyNetwork was attacked on @BinanceChain @ethereum and @0xPolygon.”
“We call on miners of affected blockchain and crypto exchanges to blacklist tokens coming from the above addresses,” they added.
Important Notice:
We are sorry to announce that #PolyNetwork was attacked on @BinanceChain @ethereum and @0xPolygon Assets had been transferred to hacker's following addresses:
ETH: 0xC8a65Fadf0e0dDAf421F28FEAb69Bf6E2E589963
BSC: 0x0D6e286A7cfD25E0c01fEe9756765D8033B32C71— Poly Network (@PolyNetwork2) August 10, 2021
Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao, also stated, “We are aware of the poly.network exploit that occurred today. While no one controls BSC (or ETH), we are coordinating with all our security partners to proactively help. There are no guarantees. We will do as much as we can.”
Notably, blockchain scanning platforms revealed that the addresses held the funds in several cryptocurrencies, such as wrapped Ether (WETH), wrapped Bitcoin (WBTC), Shiba Inu (SHIB), USDC, and others.
It was revealed the wallet addresses of the hacker to be:
ETH wallet address – 0xC8a65Fadf0e0dDAf421F28FEAb69Bf6E2E589963
BSC wallet address – 0x0D6e286A7cfD25E0c01fEe9756765D8033B32C71
Polygon wallet address – 0x5dc3603C9D42Ff184153a8a9094a73d461663214
Aftermath
Following the hack, a trading pool that utilizes the Poly Network platform in trading tokens between several blockchains, O3, has shut down its cross-chain feature.
Other reports also revealed that the primary factor that led to the attack was a cryptography problem.
Poly Network has issued a communication to the hacker, asking them to return the stolen crypto. The network also said, “The amount of money you hacked is the biggest one in the defi history. Law enforcement in any country will regard this as a major economic crime and you will be pursued. It is very unwise for you to do any further transactions. The money you stole are from tens of thousands of crypto community members, hence the people. You should talk to us to work out a solution.”
Notable Information on the Funds
The hack involved the sum of $611 million, with $253 million worth of tokens on Binance Smart Chain (BSC). As well as, $273 million worth of Ethereum tokens, and $85 million worth of USDC on Polygon.
Tether has been able to blacklist $33 million worth of USDT on the Ethereum platform. Therefore, instantly eliminating the possibility of moving the funds. It’s also important to note that USDT is a centralized token that can be controlled by the organization in charge.
Additionally, a crypto user received 13.37 ETH (about $42,000) from the hacker after informing the hacker about the restriction put in place by Tether.
Information About the Hacker
SlowMist, a blockchain security firm, sent out a report stating they have the identity of the hacker, as well as the hacker’s IP information, device fingerprint, and email address. The blockchain security firm also reported that the hacker’s initial digital assets were kept in Monero (XMR), before exchanging them for MATIC, BNB, ETH, and other tokens used to initiate the hack.
They also revealed that the information was gotten from the Chinese crypto exchange Hoo, as well as other exchanges.
Other sources also revealed that some of the hacker’s wallets have been used to carry out DeFi activities. Adding that the wallets have transacted with a number of centralized exchanges, such as Binance, FTX, and OKEx. Thus, the hacker would have had to carry out KYC documentation on those exchanges, which should provide even more information about the hacker.
About Poly Network
Poly Network was created following a collaboration amongst organizations instrumental in setting up several blockchain platforms like Switcheo, Neo, and Ontology. The network is also known as a protocol for exchanging tokens among different blockchains. These include popular names like Ethereum, Bitcoin, and Ontology.
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