On Monday, cryptocurrency finance firm the Poly Network ended its strange journey with a hacker or hackers who stole $611 million, when the remaining funds were returned. It was a sequence of events so baffling, it will leave many people to wonder if common-sense rules for negotiations still apply.
They should, say experts.
The heist started as normally as these things could. Poly announced the theft via zero-day vulnerability on Aug. 10, quickly advising major cryptocurrency exchanges, wallets and even currencies to block transactions from the thieves' wallet. Poly then advised the hacker to return funds in a Twitter letter addressed "Dear hacker."
"Law enforcement in any country will regard this as a major economic crime and you will be pursued. It is very unwise for you to do any further transactions. The money you stole are from tens of thousands of crypto community members, hence the people. You should talk to us to work out a solution."