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Cyber heist: Poly Network's stolen token valued at $600 million

Ethereum, BinanceChain and OxPolygon tokens stolen

Cryptocurrency Representational image | Reuters

A firm specialising in transferring cryptocurrency said Tuesday that hackers cracked its security, making off with a record-setting haul potentially worth $600 million. Poly Network, a decentralised finance (DeFi) platform, put out a plea for the stolen Ethereum, BinanceChain and OxPolygon tokens to be shunned by traders running "wallets" for storing cryptocurrency.

According to Reuters, the hack appears to be among the biggest in DeFi, peer-to-peer cryptocurrency platforms that allow transactions without traditional gatekeepers such as banks or exchanges. Poly Network allows users to swap tokens across different blockchains.

While Poly Network did not put a value to the amount stolen, Twitter users weighed in with calculations valuing the hackers' haul at some $600 million. As of the end of April, cryptocurrency thefts, hacks and fraud so far this year totaled $432 million, according to an analysis by CipherTrace. "While this number may appear to be small when compared to previous years, a deeper look reveals an alarming new trend -- DeFi-related hacks now make up more than 60 percent of the total hack and theft volume," CipherTrace said in a posted report.

According to Reuters, the company had frozen $33 million connected with the hack, and top management at large crypto exchanges responded to Poly Network on Twitter, saying that they would try to help.

"The amount of money you hacked is the biggest one in the defi history," Poly Network said in a tweeted message to the thieves, using a reference to decentralised finance involving cryptocurrency. "The money you stole are from tens of thousands of crypto community members." Reuters reports that criminal losses in January-July amounted to $474 million.

"We are sorry to announce that #PolyNetwork was attacked" and assets transferred to hacker-controlled accounts, the company said in a series of tweets. The company added that it would take legal action and urged hackers to return stolen assets. The company also advised people to blacklist tokens from wallets where the attack perpetrators transferred the stolen money.

Poly Network posted online addresses used by the hackers, and called on "miners of affected blockchain and crypto exchanges to blacklist tokens" coming from them.

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