Poly Network hacker returns all stolen funds and says the goal of the theft was to 'point out some crucial facts about this crazy DeFi world'

• The hacker who penetrated the DeFi platform Poly Network returned all stolen funds on Monday.
• $33 million in tether remains frozen by the stablecoin's parent company, which Poly Network said it was working to restore.
• "In my selfish view, the story is tainted by the locked [tether]," the hacker wrote in a message on the ethereum blockchain.

The hacker who penetrated DeFi platform Poly Network returned all stolen funds on Monday, a week after the network offered to hire them as chief security advisor.

In a blog post on Monday, Poly Network confirmed that the hacker, who it called Mr. White Hat, had returned the $610 million in stolen money. $33 million in tether remains frozen by the stablecoin's parent company, which Poly Network said it was working to restore.

Also on Monday, the hacker issued a message on the ethereum blockchain explaining their rationale for delaying returning the stolen funds. The hack initially occurred on August 10, with about half of the money returned the following day.

"During all the negotiation, my only request, which was also the only reason for [the] slow refund, was to unlock the USDT," the hacker wrote, referring to the $33 million in frozen tether. "In my selfish view, the story is tainted by the locked USDT."

The hacker signed off the message to the Poly Network team as "your chief security advisor," possibly suggesting that he had accepted the network's job offer. Poly Network has not confirmed the hire.

"Such big hacks as this (with white hackers or not) actually improve the overall security of all DeFi services," said Dmytro Volkov, CTO at crypto exchange CEX.IO. "Other teams tend to learn from the mistakes and failures of others and make their projects more secure."

As the hack unfolded, crypto security firm SlowMist said it had identified his IP address and email, though the hacker said they were untraceable.

"I tried to point out some crucial facts about this crazy DeFi world," the hacker wrote in his message. "Hopefully my philosophy could be inspiring, especially to those geeks who had misbehaved accidentally."