Cryptocurrency heist: Hackers steal $600 million from Defi provider

Hackers broke into
the digital coffers of a cryptocurrency transferring firm and stole currency potentially
worth $600 million, the firm, Poly Network, said on Tuesday. The firm put out a
plea for the stolen Ethereum, BinanceChain and OxPolygon tokens to be shunned
by traders running “wallets” for stolen cryptocurrency, reports AFP.  

Poly Network is a
decentralised finance (Defi) provider which allows users to transfer tokens tied
to one blockchain to a different network.

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In a message aimed
at the thieves, Poly Network tweeted: “The amount of money you hacked is the
biggest one in defi history,” referring to the decentralised finance system
involving cryptocurrency.

“The money you
stole are from tens of thousands of cypto community members,” the firm said.

Interestingly,
while threatening to involve the police, Poly Network also offered the hackers
an opportunity to “work out a solution”.

Poly Network
posted the online addresses used by the hackers and appealed to “miners of
affected blockchain and crypto exchanges to blacklist tokens”.

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While Poly Network
did not respond to AFP’s request for comment, Twitter users valued the haul at
nearly $600 million.

Around $267 million
Ether currency was stolen, $252 million of Binance coins and around $85 million
in USDC tokens, the BBC reported.

Chief executive of
Binance Changpeng Zhao said that while his firm is aware of the hack, there is
not much that can be done about it. He said that the group is coordination with
“all security partners to proactively help”, adding that “there are no
guarantees”.

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Cryptocurrency
related thefts are at an all-time high. According to a report by Blockchain
analytics firm CipherTrace, hackers and thieves have stolen cryptocurrency
worth $432 million till the end of April this year.

The CipherTrace
report suggests that De-fi related hacks have increased at “alarming” levels
and comprise more than 60% of the total hack and theft volume.