Poly Network Asks Crypto Hacker to Become Chief Security Advisor

The cryptocurrency platform "Poly Network" was targeted in a massive theft is now inviting the hacker to become a Security advisor to the company, promising a USD 500,000 reward to get back users' assets.

Poly Network came under a major attack last week when a hacker stole more than USD 600 million in tokens. The hacker took the unusual step of returning most of the stolen funds except USD 33 million in cryptocurrency.

Meantime, more than USD 200 million of funds are currently locked into an account that requires passwords from both parties to gain access.

The company has appealed to a hacker it dubbed "Mr. White Hat" to provide the password, known as the 'private key', needed to recover the funds.

Last week, Poly Network had offered a USD 500,000 "bug bounty" to return all the tokens. In a message embedded in a cryptocurrency transaction on Monday, the hacker said, “I am considering taking the bounty as a reward for public hackers if they can hack the Poly network.”

The network said it promised to reward "Mr. White Hat" with a USD 500,000 reward still in place, and threw an offer for the hacker to become a chief security advisor at the company.

The attack is said to be the largest cryptocurrency theft ever, exceeding the USD 534.8 million in cryptocurrency stolen from Japanese exchange Coincheck in the 2018 and the USD 450 million in bitcoin loss from Mt. Gox in 2014.