- The Poloniex hacker made off with a range of tokens across three different networks, including millions of dollars in memecoins.
According to on-chain statistics, over 175 different tokens with values over $10,000 were taken as part of a huge breach against the US-based crypto exchange Poloniex on Friday.
Estimates of the money stolen in the breach have risen to $125 million since earlier today.
What Poloniex Hackers Stole?
According to Nansen’s post on X (previously called Twitter), some of Poloniex’s major Ethereum-based withdrawals in the last 24 hours have included $11 million in Tether USD (USDT), $10.4 million in Ether (ETH), and $5 million in USD Coin (USDC).
The biggest token outflows ($), but not all were:
$11M USDT
$10.4M ETH
$6M ELON
$5M USDC
$4.7M SHIB
$3.1M OX
$2.5M GLMThis is currently the final page for Poloniex outflows pic.twitter.com/SCNVpBQKxw
— Nansen 🧭 (@nansen_ai) November 10, 2023
The exchange also lost a significant amount of money in memecoins, including $6 million in Dogelon Mars (ELON) and $4.7 million in Shiba Inu (SHIB). Other losses included $3.1 million in OX and $2.5 million in GLM (Open Exchange Token).
However, according to blockchain security startup PeckShield, Poloniex lost $56 million on the Ethereum blockchain, another $48 million on Tron, and 501 Bitcoin (BTC) worth $18 million on the Bitcoin network.
Read Also: Poloniex Suffers $100M Hack, Offers Hacker a 5% White-hat Bounty
The estimated loss of @Poloniex hack is ~$125m, mainly on three chains: $56m (ETH), $48m (TRX), $18m (BTC).
Also an interesting tx to look into: https://t.co/2RzpoGkb7e https://t.co/tNKR8zkIzY https://t.co/vWYgyYb78U pic.twitter.com/cXZ32mXCNn
— PeckShield Inc. (@peckshield) November 10, 2023
Despite the fact that $7.5 million of Tron’s losses were in dollar-pegged stablecoins, the majority of Tron’s losses included another 380 BTC, as well as another 68.2 Wrapped Bitcoin (WBTC).
Poloniex was purchased by Justin Sun, the founder of Tron, in 2019. He reaffirmed on Friday that the exchange’s losses are “within manageable limits” and can be compensated by operating revenue.
““The team has 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,” he said on X.
Identifying the Hacker
Sun and Poloniex have also confirmed the freezing of some of the hacker’s stolen assets.
Though the organization expects to work with law enforcement to find the hacker, they have also given the thief a 5% whitehat bonus if 95% of the monies are returned to the exchange’s addresses within seven days.
We are investigating the hack incident. #Poloniex maintains healthy financial position and will fully reimburse the affected funds.
We are extending 5% 𝘄𝗵𝗶𝘁𝗲 𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗯𝗼𝘂𝗻𝘁𝘆 to Poloniex hacker in exchange for the return of the funds to the following ETH/TRX/BTC wallets.
— Poloniex Exchange (@Poloniex) November 10, 2023
Changpeng Zhao, CEO of Binance, has promised to assist Poloniex by freezing stolen cash that may end up on the exchange. PeckShield claims that 25,500 stolen OMG tokens have already been delivered to Binance.
CertiK, another blockchain security firm, says that private key compromises will account for 57% of crypto losses in 2023.
Update on the @Poloniex hack
Across the ETH, TRON and BTC networks, $130m worth of assets have been stolen
~57% of the overall losses in 2023 so far have come from PK compromises https://t.co/zC5LICnffV
— CertiK Alert (@CertiKAlert) November 10, 2023
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