After nearly returning the entire $610 million in cryptocurrency stolen earlier this week, a hacker has been offered a $500,000 “bug bounty” by Poly Network.
Poly Network has referred to the hacker as “Mr. White Hat” and expressed gratitude for highlighting a vulnerability in its system, while also assuring that there would be no repercussions for the incident.
Earlier this week, Poly Network—a platform designed to connect various blockchains—announced that approximately $257 million in Ethereum, $252 million in Binance Coin, and $85 million in USDC tokens had been stolen.
By Friday, the company disclosed that the hacker had returned $340 million worth of assets and had transferred nearly all remaining stolen funds to a digital wallet managed by both parties.
Tom Robinson, co-founder of crypto tracking firm Elliptic, shared messages from the alleged hacker on Twitter. According to these messages, Poly Network offered the bounty in exchange for the return of the stolen funds. The hacker also claimed that the attack was executed “for fun” and maintained that there was always an intention to return the assets.
Despite Poly Network’s reassurances of no consequences, the hacker may still face legal challenges. An unnamed former FBI officer told the BBC, “Private companies have no authority to promise immunity from criminal prosecution.”