Cryptocurrencies

Hackers Steal $600 Million in Likely Largest DeFi Crypto Theft

  • Security researchers are trying to track down the attackers
  • Hackers have begun moving the funds to decentralized exchanges

   

Photographer: Andrew Harrer/Bloomberg
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Hackers perpetrated what is likely the biggest theft ever in the world of decentralized finance, stealing about $600 million in cryptocurrency from a protocol known as PolyNetwork that lets users swap tokens across multiple blockchains.

Tens of thousands of people are affected by the hack, PolyNetwork said in a letter posted on Twitter. About $33 million of the stablecoin Tether that was a part of the theft has been frozen by Tether’s issuer, making it unavailable to the attacker.