- Poloniex is actively working to resume operations after Friday’s hack that resulted in the theft of over $100 million worth of coins
- The stolen funds included ETH, TRX, and BTC
- Poloniex owner Justin Sun has offered a 5% white hat bounty for the hackers’ cooperation, giving them a week before involving law enforcement
Hacked exchange Poliniex has said that it is working to restart operations following the theft of over $100 million worth of coins last week. The exchange posted on X on Sunday today that it was working “gradually resume deposits & withdrawals” following the hack, which saw ETH, TRX, and BTC equating to $130 million stolen, while owner Justin Sun has promised a 5% white hack bounty if the funds are returned. Sun has given the hackers a week to do the decent thing or he’ll call in the feds.
$130 Million Stolen
Poloniex notified the public on Friday that its wallet had been “disabled for maintenance” and promised an update, leading to immediate suspicions of a hack. These were confirmed when Sun posted to say that the exchange was “currently investigating the Poloniex hack incident” and calmed nerves over the severity, noting that Poloniex “maintains a healthy financial position” and that it would fully plug the gap.
Analysis revealed that the attacker stole $56 million worth of ETH, $48 million worth of TRX, and $18 million worth of BTC, although Sun asserted that the team had frozen a portion of the hacker’s assets, reducing the losses.
Sun returned shortly after his first post to propose his 5% white hat bounty, which would run to about $6.5 million, with consequences to follow if the offer was not accepted:
We are offering a 5% white hat bounty to the Poloniex hacker. Please return the funds to the following ETH/TRX/BTC wallets. We will give you 7 days to consider this offer before we engage law enforcement.
ETH Wallet: 0x176F3DAb24a159341c0509bB36B833E7fdd0a132 TRX:…— H.E. Justin Sun 孙宇晨 (@justinsuntron) November 10, 2023
Poloniex Will Reopen Soon
Following work over the weekend, Poloniex is gradually resuming operations, telling users that it won’t be long until everything it up and running again:
We will work diligently to gradually resume deposits & withdrawals on #Poloniex forthcoming days, ensuring 100% security.
Apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused. https://t.co/V8uHa0UyQq pic.twitter.com/ikLhwSWOet
— Poloniex Exchange (@Poloniex) November 12, 2023
Sun added that the Poloniex team has “restored the exchange’s systems, preserved relevant evidence, and in the coming days, we will work diligently to gradually resume deposits and withdrawals on Poloniex, ensuring 100% security.”
Early indications are that North Korean hacking group Lazarus was behind the attack, which marks a change from its recent modus operandi of exploiting DeFi exchanges.
