Thefts are commonplace in the crypto world.

The anonymity attracts criminals.

The rapid rate fluctuations serve the attraction of gamblers who insufficiently hedge their digital currencies.

Many fortune hunters lightly believe the numerous promises.

There are also numerous companies that simply do not yet have enough experience to protect themselves from professional hackers.

It is not for nothing that much of the digital currency market is reminiscent of the Wild West.

Yet the alleged theft of digital currencies via the Poly Network is unusual in many ways.

Franz Nestler

Editor in business.

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In a series of terse tweets, the Poly Network stated that digital currencies worth around $ 600 million had been stolen. Poly Network? Most probably never heard of it before that day. The magic word “DeFi” is currently being used in the crypto industry. DeFi stands for decentralized financial markets. In the industry, people are already talking about the next generation of the Internet in the usual inflated terms, and this is supposed to solve a major problem of digital currencies: Since every digital currency is based on a different blockchain, it is not that easy when you convert Bitcoin into Ethereum, for example or want to trade with them.

The DeFi should solve exactly that. And this is where the alleged theft probably happened - the largest in DeFi history. What exactly should have happened, Poly Network is still tight-lipped. The company has called on the Internet that the hacker should give the money back to the owners. Otherwise, authorities around the world would be looking for the hacker (s). Whether or not they are actually able to find a clever hacker remains to be seen. That's why the crypto industry wants to help itself with its favorite DeFi topic. The Poly Network has already called on other digital currency actors to help them. At least something seems to be bearing fruit: Tether worth 33 million dollars is said to have already been frozen.

The head of the crypto exchange Binance said he was talking to his security partners to “proactively help” after the hack.

Other experts from the industry are investigating the suspected hack: The Chinese cybersecurity company Slowmist has announced that its analysts have identified the hacker's email address and IP address - but without giving any details.

The original source of money with which the hack is said to have been carried out therefore consisted of the digital currency Monero.

The money was then converted into the digital currencies Binance Coin, Ether and MATIC.

Celebrated thief

"It is probably a long-planned, organized and prepared attack," says Slowmist. This is supported by the flow of money and the information from the digital fingerprints that the hacker (s) left behind. The hacker himself has already left messages on the Ethereum blockchain, according to Etherscan. Accordingly, he is considering returning part of the stolen money because he should not be able to move some tokens. He also asked other users to help with money laundering and asked users to decide where the tokens were going. Numerous users comment that they would be happy to take part of the money - it is sometimes celebrated as a kind of modern Robin Hood.

But is it likely that the Poly Network will get the money back?

Rather not.

The crypto analysis company Elliptic says the hacker or hackers have already started using decentralized exchanges to convert the stolen assets into other currencies, such as stablecoins.

With each such step, it becomes more difficult to understand where the money has gone.

An analysis by Ciphertrace told Reuters that DeFi crime was higher than ever before the beginning of August - and that was before the hack.

"It should come as no surprise that as the DeFi ecosystem grows, so do DeFi crimes," the head of Ciphertrace told Reuters.

But with such thefts, a good deal of caution should always be played. Again and again there were supposed hacks that turned out to be embezzlements or insider jobs. It is worth remembering the then largest crypto exchange Mt. Gox, where 650,000 Bitcoin disappeared at the time, the equivalent today would be around 30 billion dollars. Back then it was also said to be a hack, but it was probably an insider who stole the money. When the boss of the Quadriga crypto exchange died, it was said at the time that he was the only one who had access to the keys and that is why the money was gone - but in truth the boss embezzled it. What exactly was going on at Poly Network remains to be seen.