This weekend, hackers stole billions of dollars worth of cryptocurrency from the Poly Network, a decentralized finance (DeFi) platform based in China. Early Sunday morning, the company said it was forced to suspend its services as a result of the attack and called on blockchain security companies to help them respond. By Sunday afternoon, the company said ten blockchains had been affected, with a total of 57 assets stolen.
A Google Spreadsheet showed the amount of cryptocurrency stolen in the cyberattack included Ethereum, Binance’s BNB Chain, Metis, Polygon and more. On Twitter, the company said, “We have already initiated communication with centralized exchanges and law enforcement agencies to sought [sic] their assistance. We hope that the attacker will cooperate and return the user assets to avoid any potential legal consequences.”
Security companies investigating the incident debated the true value of the funds stolen because the hackers created millions of dollars’ worth of cryptocurrency using platforms that lacked the liquidity necessary to allow them to cash out the funds. PeckShield, a security firm, reported that the cryptocurrency coined by the attackers was worth $34 billion, while another company estimated it to be worth $42 billion.
According to the security companies using blockchain technology, the hackers stole anywhere between $10.1 million and $20 million. Beosin reported that the hackers stole a total of 5,196 ETH worth about $10 million. MetaSleuth reported that about $260 million worth of Binance’s cryptocurrency was also stolen, but it was unlikely to be cashed out by the attacker due to the low liquidity on the platform it was taken from.
Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao said the incident “does not affect Binance users” and that their security team was assisting Poly Network in their investigations. Several other crypto platforms, including Poly Network, announced they would be suspending all connections as a precaution.
This is not the first time that a headline-grabbing assault on Poly Network has taken place – in 2021, a hacker stole more than $600 million worth of cryptocurrency from the company before eventually returning a significant portion of the funds in exchange for a financial reward.
