Over $ 600 Million Stolen From Ethereum And Other Cryptocurrencies, Marking One Of Biggest Crypto Hacks

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Top line

Hackers reportedly breached the blockchain-based Poly Network platform and mined more than $ 600 million worth of cryptocurrency on Tuesday, the company announced on Twitter, marking the biggest hack ever in the decentralized financial space that is heating up among investors.

Almost $ 300 million of ether was said to have been hacked.

Getty Highlights

“We’re sorry to announce that #PolyNetwork has been attacked,” Poly tweeted Tuesday morning, revealing that hackers had transferred hundreds of millions of dollars to separate cryptocurrency wallets.

Cryptocurrency wallet addresses leaked by Poly, a cross-chain interoperability network, show early Tuesday transfers of 2,858 ether tokens worth around $ 267 million, 6,610 binance coins from ‘worth over $ 252 million and approximately $ 85 million in USDC tokens on the Polygon network.

The combined value of the stolen tokens on Tuesday morning was around $ 604 million, making it even bigger than the $ 460 million hack on the Mt. Gox cryptocurrency exchange that led to company bankruptcy and increased regulation in the nascent space about seven years ago.

Shortly after the hack, Tether, the company behind the world’s third largest cryptocurrency by market cap, froze around $ 33 million in USDT tokens associated with the hacker’s wallet address, according to its chief technology officer.

Blockchain-based security firm SlowMist also released a statement hours after the attack, claiming it had identified the attacker’s device email, IP address, and fingerprints, and was working on tracking additional identity clues.

Poly, which was founded by China’s $ 3.3 billion NEO cryptocurrency project, did not immediately respond to Forbes’ request for comment.

Crucial quote

We are calling on affected blockchain and crypto exchange miners to blacklist tokens from the above addresses, Poly Network tweeted on Tuesday.

Tangent

Crypto exchange operators spoke out shortly after the massive hack. Changpeng Zhao, the billionaire CEO of cryptocurrency exchange Binance, said in tweets that the company, which serves as the primary operator of the blockchain on which binance coins are built, will coordinate with its security partners and will do as much as [it] can help. Meanwhile, Jay Hao, CEO of the OKEx cryptocurrency exchange, said the company “is monitoring the flow of coins and will [its] manage the situation better. “

Large number

103 billion dollars. This is the current market value of all decentralized financial tokens (like Polygon), according to crypto-data website CoinGecko. The space exceeded a valuation of $ 100 billion for the first time this year and peaked at around $ 150 billion in May before the broader crypto market collapsed by nearly 50%.

Key context

Less than a week before the Poly hack, SEC Chairman Gary Gensler said the burgeoning decentralized financial platforms, also known as DeFi, deserved a closer look from the government. The platforms largely bypass traditional intermediaries such as central banks and financial services exchanges and instead rely on blockchains and often their own cryptocurrencies to process transactions. Gensler said such practices can involve securities, commodities and banking laws, and called on Congress to strengthen its authority over the cryptocurrency industry, which he likened to the “Wild West “. Meanwhile, institutional investors have become widely familiar with the space: Goldman Sachs filed last month to start its own exchange-traded fund investing in DeFi.

Further reading

Ethereum Rises After Further Upgrade As Its Crypto Market Dominance Gets Bitcoin Advantage (Forbes)

SEC accuses crypto executives of allegedly fraudulent $ 30 million offers in first case against booming $ 100 billion space (Forbes)

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