ackers stole more than $100 million from cryptocurrency trading platform Poloniex on Friday, taking off with millions worth of Bitcoin and Ethereum.
The platform confirmed on social media that it is investigating the theft and that it plans to fully reimburse those who were affected by the hack.
Poloniex said it would pay 5% of what was stolen as a bounty to the hacker in exchange for the return of the funds.
“We kindly request your response within the next 7 days to consider this offer before we involve law enforcement,” they said in a public message to the hacker.
“Additionally, we are exploring opportunities for collaboration with other partners to facilitate the recovery of these funds.”
The controversial company was founded in 2014 before being acquired in 2018 by Circle —- the crypto giant behind the U.S. dollar pegged coin USDC. The company was known for its laissez faire approach to customer controls and for allowing a wide variety of sometimes dubious coins to be traded on the platform.
Circle eventually sold the company 18 months later to Justin Sun, the controversial crypto entrepreneur who moved the company to the Seychelles islands in an effort to avoid regulations.
Sun sent his own message out about the hack investigation on Friday, arguing that the platform “maintains a healthy financial position and will fully reimburse the affected funds.”
“The Poloniex team has successfully identified and frozen a portion of the assets associated with the hacker’s addresses. At present, the losses are within manageable limits, and Poloniex’s operating revenue can cover these losses,” he said.