Poloniex’s $100M Heist: Hacker Hunt, $10M Bounty

Poloniex, a cryptocurrency exchange, recently issued a message to the intruder who stole more than $100 million worth of digital assets from one of its wallets.In the message, the exchange confirmed that it had identified the culprit and was offering a $10 million bounty in exchange for the return of the stolen assets.

PeckShield, a blockchain security firm, disseminated an on-chain message via social media that depicts Poloniex’s communication with the intruder.

As stated by the exchange, the hacker’s identity has been officially verified. Additionally, the exchange emphasized its collaboration with law enforcement agencies from Russia, China, and the United States.

On-chain message from Poloniex to the hacker. Source: PeckShield

Additionally, Poloniex stated that the pilfered funds have been tainted with a mark, rendering them unusable. Despite verifying the hacker’s identity, the exchange offered the hacker an opportunity to reimburse the funds by November 25 in exchange for a $10 million white hat reward.

However, police forces will intervene if the funds are not returned. Even though the message confirms the identification of the perpetrator, several community members remain skeptical of the new development.

A community member stated in a post on X (formerly Twitter) that if the perpetrator is already identified, the exchange would not need to involve the police in three different countries and send the same message in fifteen different languages.

The breach occurred in early November when a Poloniex cryptocurrency wallet exhibited anomalous outflows.

Multiple blockchain security firms determined on November 10 that the exchange’s wallet had been emptied of over $100 million.

As a maintenance measure in reaction to the assault, Poloniex disabled the wallet. Additionally, the exchange offered a 5% honorarium in exchange for the funds’ safe return.

To bolster its security, the exchange reinstated withdrawals on November 15 following the engagement of a security auditing firm.