a Poloniex, a famous cryptocurrency broker founded in 2014, was hit by a R$575 million hack on Friday morning (10). The unusual money movement was spotted by PeckShield, which notified both the brokerage and its owner, Justin Sun.
Among the cryptocurrencies stolen so far are more than 16,000 ETH (R$166 million), 228 million TRX (R$119 million) and 501 BTC (R$92 million). The list continues with other assets such as stablecoins, various tokens and other native currencies.
In September this year, another Justin Sun brokerage was also cleared by hackers. On that date, Huobi lost R$40 million in cryptocurrencies, but managed to regain the value after a daring negotiation with the hacker. Now Poloniex hopes to repeat this story.
Poloniex recognizes hack and stops cryptocurrency deposits and withdrawals
Founded in 2014, Poloniex was once one of the largest cryptocurrency brokers in the world. Later that year, Poloniex suffered a hack of 97 bitcoins, but covered all its customers’ losses. Although the amount seems small today, it has helped the brokerage gain reputation and trust in the market.
In 2018, Circle (owner of the USDC stablecoin) bought Poloniex for $400 million. The following year, in 2019, the broker was acquired by Justin Sun, founder of Tron.
This Friday (10), the legendary real estate agency added a new chapter to its history: a R$575 million hack. The attack was recognized by Poloniex, which immediately halted deposits and withdrawals.
“Our wallet has been deactivated due to maintenance. We will update this thread once the wallet is reactivated.”
Our wallet is down for maintenance. We will update this thread once the wallet is re-enabled.
— Poloniex Customer Support (@PoloSupport) November 10, 2023
Justin Sun also acknowledged the hack on his social media. However, the billionaire made it a point to state that his brokerage’s clients will be refunded, meaning they will not lose anything.
“We are currently investigating the Poloniex hacking incident. Poloniex maintains a healthy financial position and will fully repay the affected funds.”wrote Zon. “In addition, we are exploring opportunities to collaborate with other brokers to facilitate the recovery of these funds.”
We are currently investigating the Poloniex hacking incident. Poloniex maintains a healthy financial position and will fully repay the affected funds. In addition, we are exploring opportunities to collaborate with other exchanges to facilitate the recovery of these funds.
— HE Justin Sun 孙宇晨 (@justinsuntron) November 10, 2023
Until the end of this article, there is no more information about how Poloniex lost R$575 in cryptocurrencies. Recently, hackers extracted R$200 million from the Stake casino, R$350 million from the CoinEx brokerage, R$72 million from Fortress Trust and R$1 billion from Mixin. In other words, there is a wave of attacks on major cryptocurrency platforms.
Justin Sun offers hackers a reward of R$29 million
As usual in these cases, Justin Sun made the hacker an offer. If he returns the stolen cryptocurrencies, he will not be reported to the authorities and will also be allowed to deduct 5% of their value, i.e. R$29 million.
“We are offering the Poloniex hacker a 5% white hat premium. Send the funds back to the following ETH/TRX/BTC wallets. We will give you seven days to consider this offer before we involve the authorities.”
We offer the Poloniex hacker a 5% white hat bounty. Send the funds back to the following ETH/TRX/BTC wallets. We will give you seven days to consider this offer before we involve the police.
ETH wallet: 0x176F3DAb24a159341c0509bB36B833E7fdd0a132 TRX:…— HE Justin Sun 孙宇晨 (@justinsuntron) November 10, 2023
Last month, another Justin Sun broker, Huobi, managed to recover R$40 million by also offering 5% to its hacker. So it is possible that the offer will be accepted. So far there is no further information about the Poloniex hacker, but a reward of R$20,000 has already been offered for his identity.
“We have created and funded a bounty to help identify the person or organization behind the current Poloniex exploit”according to Arkham Intelligence, which is offering 10,000 ARKM for this information.
Source: Live Coins
Barry Siefert is an accomplished journalist and author at The Nation View. He is known for his expertise in the field of cryptocurrency, and has written extensively on the topic. With a background in finance and economics, Barry has a deep understanding of the underlying technology and market forces that drive the crypto industry.
