The Poly Network said that all but 33 million of the stolen cryptocurrency has now been returned, and 268 million of the recovered cryptocurrency is locked into an account that requires passwords from the network of the same name "Poly" and the hackers. together.

Last week, nearly $600 million stolen in one of the largest cryptocurrency thefts ever has now been returned by hackers, according to the targeted platform Poly Network.

The company said last Thursday that all but $33 million of the cryptocurrency had been returned.

But the problem was that the owner of one of the “tether” accounts, a stable digital currency pegged to the US dollar, used a built-in security system that prevented access to the assets shortly after the theft except with passwords from the network and hackers, and the funds locked to this account amounted to 268 million assets.

The turn of events occurred on Wednesday, when an unknown person claiming to be the hacker said he was "ready to return" the money.

Poly has requested that the funds be sent to 3 cryptocurrency wallets.

The hacker has almost certainly returned more than $342 million in funds to those wallets by Thursday, while the identity of the hacker or hackers remains unknown.

In a message embedded in a cryptocurrency transaction, the suspected hacker said he would provide the last key "when everyone is ready".

The problem was that the owner of one of the tether accounts used a built-in security system that prevents access to the assets shortly after the theft (communication sites)

How did the hack happen?

Polynet is known as a "decentralized finance" system, known as DiFi, and aims to use blockchain - the technology on which most cryptocurrencies are based - to replicate traditional financial services such as loans and trading.

In the case of Polynetwork, Devi allows users to transfer tokens from one blockchain to another.

Someone exploited a vulnerability in network code, allowing hackers to transfer tokens to their encrypted wallets.

The platform lost more than $610 million in the attack, according to researchers with security firm SlowMist.

Polly described the theft as the "largest in the history" of cryptocurrency.

The alleged hacker claims that he carried out the theft "for fun" and that he "always" planned to return the money in the end.

In another message, the hacker claimed that Poly Network offered them a $500,000 reward to return all the money, which they rejected.

The hacker shared what appeared to be a statement from Poly's network, promising them "they will not be held accountable for this incident" and effectively grant them immunity.

According to CNBC, which published the news, Poly Network did not respond to the hacker's allegations.

“Introducing immunity may seem like a smart move by PolyNetwork to offer a carrot to hackers, but it is unlikely that the authorities would approve or even allow this decision,” said Jake Moore, a cybersecurity specialist at ESET.

"It is possible that this attack was closely monitored by cybercriminals and law enforcement alike, which could open the door to the possibility of further attacks," he added.

Identify the hacker

Tom Robinson, chief scientist at blockchain analytics firm Elliptic, said the hacker "may find themselves chased by the authorities" and "their activities have left many digital traces behind that law enforcement can trace."

Cryptocurrencies are often the best solution for cybercriminals, especially in ransomware attacks that shut down enterprise systems or steal data to demand a ransom payment for data recovery, because those who send and receive cryptocurrencies do not reveal their identities.

However, it has become possible to trace the location of the funds by analyzing the block chains, which contain a public record of all historical crypto transactions.