Poly Network, a DeFi project all about linking up blockchains, got hit hard—a massive $611 million hack that’s being called the biggest decentralized finance heist yet. The crew broke the news on Twitter on August 10, 2021, and the fallout’s been swift.
Tether’s already blacklisted the stolen Ethereum-based USDT, and Binance’s big boss, Changpeng Zhao, vowed to team up with security pros to tackle the mess.
Important Notice:
We are sorry to announce that #PolyNetwork was attacked on @BinanceChain @ethereum and @0xPolygon Assets had been transferred to hacker's following addresses:
ETH: 0xC8a65Fadf0e0dDAf421F28FEAb69Bf6E2E589963
BSC: 0x0D6e286A7cfD25E0c01fEe9756765D8033B32C71— Poly Network (@PolyNetwork2) August 10, 2021
So, what went down? TheBlock’s Igor Igamberdiev reckons the hackers sniffed out a glitch in Poly Network’s cryptography setup, faking a transaction signature to siphon off the cash. The haul’s staggering: $273 million in Ether (ETH), $253 million in tokens on Binance Smart Chain (BSC), and $85 million in USDC, all yanked from Poly’s coffers. It’s not just Poly feeling the pinch—projects like the 03 protocol, which lean on Poly’s cross-chain tech, have had to slam the brakes on token swaps.
Tether’s fighting back, freezing $33 million of the pilfered USDT (ERC-20) to lock the hackers out. Meanwhile, Zhao’s got Binance on high alert, promising to work “proactively” with their security partners to plug the hole. Poly Network, launched in February 2021 with Zilliqa’s crew, was built to weave together different blockchains—public ones, big and small—through an open system. The idea? Smooth, seamless chatter across ledgers. But this heist’s a brutal reminder that as blockchain gets hotter, the bad guys are getting sharper.
