Hacker returns $600M to Poly Network, is offered position as Chief Security Advisor

Last week, a hacker who stole more than $600 million in various cryptocurrencies began returning the ill-gotten gains. The hacker had exploited a weakness in the Poly Network platform of multiple blockchains to pull off the heist. At the time, he had returned almost half of the funds stolen.

This week nearly all of the crypto stolen from Poly Network has been returned, but then something bizarre happened. Instead of turning the thief, who Poly Network refers to as Mr. White Hat, over to authorities, the company hired him to be its Chief Security Advisor and gave him a $500,000 bug bounty for finding the exploit.

Poly Network said that it maintained constant communication with Mr. White Hat as he returned the crypto. He expressed concerns with the platform's "security and overall development strategy." The company was impressed enough with his abilities that it offered him a senior-level position at Poly Network. "We are also counting on more experts like Mr. White Hat to be involved in the future development of Poly Network since we believe that we share the vision to build a secure and robust distributed system," Poly Network wrote in a blog post. "Also, to extend our thanks and encourage Mr. White Hat to continue contributing to security advancement in the blockchain world together with Poly Network, we cordially invite Mr. White Hat to be the Chief Security Advisor of Poly Network."