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After stealing $600 million and returning it, a crypto heist hacker gets a job offer from Poly Network.

A week after a hacker stole $610 million from PolyNetwork in what was possibly the largest robbery in the history of so-called decentralised finance, the victim has offered the perpetrator a job.

The attack on the PolyNetwork platform, which allows users to transfer tokens across several blockchains, was described as an act of "hacking for good" to "rescue the project" by the hacker. Since then, the assailant has vowed to refund the money and has already given nearly half of it.

PolyNetwork has responded by praising the hacker, whom it has dubbed "Mr. White Hat," an euphemism for "ethical" hackers who discover weaknesses in computer networks and notify corporations and organisations about them.

PolyNetwork offered Mr. White Hat a job as "Chief Security Adviser" on Tuesday as a gesture of gratitude or possibly exasperation.

The hacker's identity is unknown, and it's unclear whether Mr. White Hat is a single person or a gang of hackers.

“We kindly ask Mr. White Hat to be the Chief Security Adviser of PolyNetwork to express our gratitude and encourage him to continue contributing to security improvement in the blockchain world with PolyNetwork,” the firm said in a statement. “It's worth repeating that PolyNetwork has no intention of holding Mr. White Hat legally liable because we are certain that Mr. White Hat will quickly return complete ownership of the assets to PolyNetwork and its users.”

Meanwhile, PolyNetwork is still attempting to recoup all of its clients' funds. After restoring half of the network's assets, the hacker transferred the remaining monies — roughly $235 million — to a shared account secured by two keys. PolyNetwork received one of the keys, while the hacker kept the other.

Since then, PolyNetwork has been pleading with Mr. White Hat to hand him his key so that the funds can be accessible. Despite the employment offer and another offer that would allow the hacker to keep $500,000 of the funds, the hacker has yet to do so.

Experts who have been trying to track down the monies since they were taken have been mystified by the hacker's actions.

In an interview, Tom Robinson, co-founder of blockchain forensics firm Elliptic Enterprises Ltd., said, "There have been lots of DeFi breaches, but there haven't been any continuous discussions between the hacker and the project." “It appears that the hacker would prefer to keep some influence over the funds. I just get the impression that the hacker has a bit of an ego. He's looking for a way to keep people's attention.”

PolyNetwork's stance, according to researchers at bitcoin research firm Chainalysis Inc., could be a tactical approach intended at reclaiming all of their funds by bribing Mr. White Hat with money, accolades, and titles.

In a text message, Gurvais Grigg, global public sector chief technology officer of Chainalysis, said, “Perhaps PolyNetwork is implying trust in the attacker in an attempt to persuade them to do the right thing and return the funds as soon as possible so they can begin the process of restarting their business.” “While it is still unclear how this bizarre narrative will end, I can state that this is not typical white hat hacker conduct (s). The good news is that the blockchain is open, and we, along with the rest of the bitcoin community, are keeping a watch on the funds.”

As they develop in popularity, DeFi apps — which allow users to lend, borrow, and exchange coins without the use of intermediaries — have become frequent targets of attacks. According to crypto security firm CipherTrace Inc, DeFi breaches netted $156 million in the first five months of this year, surpassing the $129 million stolen in such attacks in all of 2020.

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