The hacker who stole more than $600 million... returned it, and was offered a job
Some hacks end in an international manhunt. And one ended with a job offer. This is the latter.
In August 2021, an anonymous attacker exploited a flaw in Poly Network, a DeFi platform connecting several blockchains, and made off with more than $600 million in cryptocurrency from the Ethereum, BNB Chain, and Polygon networks. At the time, it was one of the biggest heists in the history of decentralized finance.
Poly Network’s response was direct: it published an open letter asking him to return the money, reminding him that it wasn’t his, but belonged to tens of thousands of community members.
And then something strange happened. The hacker started returning the funds on his own: first nearly half, and within a few days, almost all of it. He said he’d done it for fun and never intended to keep the money. According to his own messages, he cared far more about having discovered a blind spot in the platform’s architecture than about any amount of money.
The company dubbed him “Mr. White Hat,” a term for ethical hackers who disclose security flaws. It assured him he wouldn’t face legal repercussions, offered him a $500,000 reward, and, to top it off, invited him to become its Chief Security Advisor. About $33 million in USDT was frozen by Tether after the attack.
To this day, no one knows for sure who it was. And that’s the part that intrigues me most: was he really a well-intentioned hacker, or someone who realized that moving so much money without being traced was almost impossible? Forensic experts at the time said spending those funds would have been extremely difficult.
The truth is that in an industry full of stories about thefts that end in permanent losses, this one showed that sometimes things can turn out differently. Later in this series, we’ll look at a heist of similar scale, but with a very different ending.
What do you think: hero, repentant thief, or opportunist? Tell me in the comments.
Follow me: week 11 starts on Monday with a promise of “more security than a bank” that ended in jail.