A person claiming to have orchestrated a $600 million cryptocurrency hacking incident this week said the attack on blockchain-powered finance platform Poly Network was carried out "for fun," CNBC reported Aug. 12.
The hacker exploited a flaw in Poly Network's code Aug. 10 to steal more than $600 million from the company but began returning some of the money the next day. As of Aug. 12, $342 million worth of assets had been returned, the company said.
A Q&A embedded within a digital currency transaction Aug. 11 stated the motive of the attack was "for fun."
"When spotting the bug, I had a mixed feeling," the person wrote. "Ask yourself what to do had you facing so much fortune. Asking the project team politely so that they can fix it? Anyone could be the traitor given one billion!"
The hacker's message continued: "I can trust nobody! The only solution I can come up with is saving it in a _trusted_ account while keeping myself _anonymous_ and _safe_."
The person also addressed the reasoning behind returning the funds, claiming it was "always the plan" and money wasn't an interest.
"I know it hurts when people are attacked, but shouldn’t they learn something from those hacks?" they said.
Tom Robinson, chief scientist at blockchain analytics firm Elliptic, told CNBC the person who wrote the Q&A was definitely the hacker behind the Poly Network attack since the messages were embedded in transactions sent from the hacker's account and "only the holder of the stolen assets could have sent them."