A crypto company is offering a hacker $500,000 in exchange for ‘assisting in the enhancement of its security‘

Poly Network suffered a $610 million loss as a result of the 'Mr White Hat' attack, however the majority of it has been recovered.

Poly Network, the cryptocurrency network that was hacked earlier this week and lost $610 million (€517 million), stated on Friday that it offered a $500,000 (€424,000) "bug bounty" to the hacker or hackers.

It hailed the hacker – termed a "white hat" in industry lingo for an ethical hacker who normally seeks to uncover cyber flaws – for returning the majority of the funds and "assisting us in improving Poly Network's security."

Additionally, the network expressed hope that "Mr White Hat" would contribute to the future growth of the blockchain industry by accepting the $500,000 prise provided as part of the talks over the digital currencies' return.

The message made no reference to how the $500,000 would be paid. It stated that the hacker had acknowledged receipt of the offer but did not specify whether it was accepted.

On Thursday, Tom Robinson, chief scientist and co-founder of crypto monitoring business Elliptic, released digital messages on Twitter in which a person claiming to have carried out the breach stated that Poly Network offered him a bounty to restore the stolen funds.

Decentralised finance

Poly Network, a lesser-known brand in the world of cryptocurrency, is a decentralised finance (DeFi) platform that enables peer-to-peer transactions with an emphasis on allowing users to move or trade tokens across several blockchains.

According to blockchain forensics company Chainalysis, the as-yet-unidentified hacker or hackers appear to have taken advantage of a vulnerability in the digital contracts Poly Network employs to transfer assets between multiple blockchains.

According to Friday's announcement, the hacker restored $340 million in assets and moved the majority of the remaining funds to a digital wallet shared by them and Poly Network.

The remainder, which is held in tether, has been frozen by the stablecoin's creators.

“As a result of our communication with Mr White Hat, we have gained a more thorough understanding of how the event transpired as well as Mr White Hat's original intent,” the statement stated without providing any information.

On Tuesday, Poly Network revealed the hack, but the following day announced that the hackers had began repaying the digital currency they had stolen.

According to Elliptic, the hackers stated in digital messaging that they carried out the attack for fun and that the aim was always to return the tokens.

However, some blockchain researchers suggest that they may have been unable to launder stolen money on such a large scale.

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