What could make a hacker return stolen $600m crypto

[Gozie51]

A hacker return stolen crypto

But was the thief a good samaritan who stole the money to expose a dangerous security flaw

"I am not very interested in money!” the hacker wrote, adding it was “always the plan” to return the funds.

How can that happen that a hacker does that I return the stolen crypto and say he is not interested in money. This is funny K can say that. What do you think about this story.

[Kusman]

This is absolutely one of the very interesting stories. But actually, we have witnessed some other hackers doing the same thing also. I don't know, it seems like their main goal is to show the companies their flaws and help them fix those ones. Maybe these hackers would want to work at those companies as white hat hackers or something related.    There are many possibilities to think about.

[roadrunnerjaiv2025]

Maybe the hacker reached a dead-end and realized there are more walls to break before they can actually benefit from their loot. We can only speculate. But whatever their reason, at least it helped reveal the security flaws that could cost investors' their life savings. We're lucky to have lived during the budding stage of cryptocurrency but not so lucky that we have to deal with so many risks.

[hatshepsut93]

He very likely wouldn't be able to use all the stolen money because it would be impossible to launder them all. Also there's nothing wrong with not wanting to have $600m, plenty of people have lower needs so it's not worth the headache. And the hacker is probably already doing quite well financially, so why should he risk punishment for money that he doesn't really need?

[tabas]

There's already a massive blockage to the address that he'll use if he's going to transfer that to exchanges and turns into cash. But he might also be telling the truth that it's part of the plan. There are hackers that have a purpose to expose and exploit a system's security but also have the plan of letting know the developers or security maintainer of it what's the flaw that they've found. Well, it's going to be unknown if he's telling the truth or not.

[20kevin20]

You suddenly have everything you need in your life although until now you've lived a modest one. These $600M are hard as hell to keep concealed.

Usually, you can either return the sum and be rewarded a certain % for returning it or you can return the sum and be hired by the company's security team. This makes your millions legal income and so you have zero worries about losing your freedom for your actions.

[jackg]

Usually, you can either return the sum and be rewarded a certain % for returning it or you can return the sum and be hired by the company's security team. This makes your millions legal income and so you have zero worries about losing your freedom for your actions.

Yeah these are the main reasons for doing something like this.

Getting a job might be better than getting the money if you're bad with money too as it should be more consistent.

I wouldn't know the best way to return funds to a company though so if that was preplanned by the attacker then I guess they could probably be assumed to be honest. There might be the obvious additional threat that they're wanting to be trusted by the company to carry out a larger attack though - which will probably be/has been something the company can assess if the attacker was aiming for the job route.

[Beparanf]

Maybe the hacker reached a dead-end and realized there are more walls to break before they can actually benefit from their loot. We can only speculate. But whatever their reason, at least it helped reveal the security flaws that could cost investors' their life savings. We're lucky to have lived during the budding stage of cryptocurrency but not so lucky that we have to deal with so many risks.

Afaik, some exchange already track the hackers address that's why they already know the hacker identity. Probably the hacker was scared on suing him by the polychain network network because he was already doxxed so he probably chose the easiest way to get out this shit and earn some profit for raising a flaw on the code of the project.

[The Sceptical Chymist]

Maybe the hacker reached a dead-end and realized there are more walls to break before they can actually benefit from their loot.

Yeah, but you'd think if a hacker was smart enough to pull off such a massive hack, they would have had to know that in advance.  I'm sure whoever did it was familiar with crypto and knew how hard it would be to keep the stolen coins.

Usually, you can either return the sum and be rewarded a certain % for returning it or you can return the sum and be hired by the company's security team.

I haven't followed the story since it came out, so does anyone know exactly what the outcome was?  It seems logical that if "Mr. White Hat Hacker" was looking to poke holes in Poly's security, he'd return the money (which he did), but has there been any news as to whether charges were filed or anything like that?  That article OP linked to is a mess, and it's a few weeks old.

But man....how tempting would it be for anyone who had their hands on $600 million worth of crypto to just run away with it?  I know the guy said he has no interest in money, but I have my doubts about that.

[Darker45]

A person who is skilled enough to be able to steal more than $600 million worth of cryptocurrency should not be risking one's life and freedom for the sake of money.

The hacker must have what it takes to get a decent job and steady source of income. He/she must not be in bad need of money. So why should he/she be courting a complicated and even dangerous life?

In fact, with this alone, he/she is already offered half a million as a reward and even a chief security advisor position.

[Kemarit]

Perhaps it was not the plan in the beginning, but when he made a mistake and knows that in due time he can be track and sent jail then obviously the best thing to do is to return back the stolen $600 m and claim that you wanted to show the security flaw in the beginning.

And how can he encash that huge amount without being track as well? He can make his life smaller and miserable with that hack. And in return, he got $500k, that's a good bargain already.

[NeuroticFish]

There was another thread already discussing his motifs when he returned the first half of the money.
One "direction" was that there may have been that he made a mistake and basically he has revealed his identity (he used centralized exchange) and all his "good willing" was basically to save him from being sued/jailed for theft.

[bitbollo]

We have to look clearly each details of what happened since there are many possible reasons.
I think one of the "best" is called "JAIL" ... even if you don't have too much time to spend there , I am pretty sure life will be not easy despite this huge amount of money.

Because there are 2 categories of people that want find an hacker like this:
1 people that has lost funds
2 people that want stole your funds

[Wexnident]

How can that happen that a hacker does that I return the stolen crypto and say he is not interested in money. This is funny K can say that. What do you think about this story.

As others have said, $600M may seem like something that someone wouldn't really want to give to others, but if it was obtained illegally, it would be quite hard to explain where it came from unless you have a lot of connections that could possibly help you. It's a big amount that wouldn't really escape the eyes of those who want to look into it after all, so if the hacker himself wasn't careful, he'd be caught quite easily. It'd be much easier to turn it over and say something that would fix his reputation by a bit than wanting it all.

Sides, since he was able to hack something like that, he'd probably get a good job that would be worth his time no? Someone skilled like that would always be wanted by big companies.

[meanwords]

It's really hard to say. I noticed that after SlowMist, an investigative firm, found the identify of the hacker, including the email, the funds were returned immediately. That means the hacker got scared that he might get caught in that situation. Although, he was handed $500,000 as a rewarded and still refused to get it means he isn't really interested in money.

Him just wanting to exploit the flaws of the company as a white hacker is still the best scenario in my opinion.

[lovesmayfamilis]

A person who can break such a jackpot one time by hacking into any company proves to himself and everyone that money is not a problem for him. I think that everyone should understand this. For him, hacking is a passion that goes beyond monetary interests. Moving from step to step higher, he simply shows his strength and intelligence, and at the same time gaps in the networks of companies.
I already wrote somewhere about the fact that fishing, with catching a fish and releasing it, is tantamount to the actions of this hacker.
Passion, nothing more.

[Fortify]

A hacker return stolen crypto

But was the thief a good samaritan who stole the money to expose a dangerous security flaw

"I am not very interested in money!” the hacker wrote, adding it was “always the plan” to return the funds.

How can that happen that a hacker does that I return the stolen crypto and say he is not interested in money. This is funny K can say that. What do you think about this story.

You might be surprised as to what can qualify as a "hacker". The world is full of published exploits, bugs and glitches between different pieces of software. Someone who is fairly amateur but with enough time on their hands could potentially string together enough bugs that gave them access to critical functionality within this exchange. They might have taken the money just to be sure they could have control of it (and confirming it was insecure), then panicked when they realized how much heat it was actually going to bring on them. There have been many other cases where the hacker is eventually identified (some of the best investigators have likely been hired along with law enforcement investigations) with the end result of the hacker getting long jail terms - this might have been an attempt to avoid it. However there are many possible theories that might be true.

[ILuckyGuyI]

Some hackers are really not very understandable. They just aim to show the security flaws of the company they hack and then return the money. Just think about it. Would you return an amount worth $600m?    I assume that he/she will be given a small amount of prize for finding out the security flaw. I'm not sure if it is worth it unless you earn really great amount of money already. I know that he will have to run from the government this time if he doesn't return the money. But in that situation, it must be really hard to decide what to do. 

[smyslov]

How can that happen that a hacker does that I return the stolen crypto and say he is not interested in money. This is funny K can say that. What do you think about this story.

I don't think he is not interested in money, the hacker was tracked and he was given a warning that authorities will pursue him, if they did not track the hacker will withdraw the money, hacking has a serious impact on the market if there is news of hacking expect the market to go down, even if they have good intention these hackers should be charged and prosecuted.

[Lucius]

How can that happen that a hacker does that I return the stolen crypto and say he is not interested in money. This is funny K can say that. What do you think about this story.

As far as I know, he demanded to keep a certain amount as a reward, so I wouldn't say he didn't care about the money - and the fact that he didn't keep everything may stem from a pre-planned operation that he would keep only a certain percentage - or it's just about to some inexperienced kid who at some point was afraid he would get caught.

However, I would like to point out another possibility, and that is that hacking was actually fake in order to promote a certain platform - which in the end was achieved, because it was reported by all mainstream media.