Poloniex hack losses top $100 million
On November 10, an unknown assailant attacked the Poloniex cryptocurrency exchange. According to preliminary data from Arkham Intelligence, aggregate losses exceeded $124.5 million in digital assets.
Around 14:00 (UTC+3), PeckShield analysts warned the platform and its head Justin Sun of suspicious withdrawals from one of the company’s hot wallets.
Hi @Poloniex, you may want to take a look: @justinsuntron https://t.co/UobItZ9FpO
— PeckShield Inc. (@peckshield) November 10, 2023
Poloniex’s support account on X reported that the address was taken offline for maintenance.
Forty minutes later, Sun confirmed the incident, saying that the investigation had begun. According to him, Poloniex is in a “healthy financial position” and will fully reimburse the lost funds at its own expense.
We are currently investigating the Poloniex hack incident. Poloniex maintains a healthy financial position and will fully reimburse the affected funds. Additionally, we are exploring opportunities for collaboration with other exchanges to facilitate the recovery of these funds.
— H.E. Justin Sun 孙宇晨 (@justinsuntron) November 10, 2023
The exchange will also seek assistance from other platforms to recover the stolen assets.
Sun offered the hacker a 5% white-hat bounty on condition of returning all stolen funds. He was given a week to consider the offer; after that Poloniex would report to law enforcement.
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
Representatives of Arkham added that they announced a bounty of 10,000 ARKM (~$4,185) for help identifying the offender.
We’ve created and funded a bounty to help identify the person or organization behind today’s @Poloniex exploit.
Bounty Link: https://t.co/qMEA6KUsyu
Poloniex Exploiter on Arkham: https://t.co/AOJWEB0Y5X https://t.co/imBQrJa73G pic.twitter.com/CuUqVKncur
— Arkham (@ArkhamIntel) November 10, 2023
Sun said there was “successful identification and freezing of part of the assets linked to the hacker’s addresses.”
Additionally, the team have restored Poloniex’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. Apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused.
— H.E. Justin Sun 孙宇晨 (@justinsuntron) November 10, 2023
«In the current circumstances, losses remain within acceptable bounds, and Poloniex’s operating income can cover them», he stressed.
Against the backdrop of the hack, the blockchain’s native token TRX rose sharply — from $0.099 to $0.113. At the time of writing the asset had corrected to around $0.106.
Earlier on-chain sleuth ZachXBT reported a possible $2 million theft at the CoinSpot exchange.
In October, losses from breaches across 23 incidents fell to $51 million — 85.6% lower than a month earlier.
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