In a surprising turn of events, the hacker responsible for the $46 million cryptocurrency theft from KyberSwap has issued a warning, urging KyberSwap executives and tokenholders to ease hostilities during negotiations. The hacker has threatened to delay negotiations unless a more civil atmosphere is established.
Exploiter’s demands amidst ongoing negotiations
The individual behind the recent $46 million cryptocurrency theft from KyberSwap, a prominent cross-chain decentralized exchange, has made a bold move by sending an on-chain message. The hacker has demanded that KyberSwap executives, token-holders, and liquidity providers reduce hostilities during ongoing negotiations.
In the on-chain message dated November, the exploiter expressed their intention to release a statement regarding a potential treaty with KyberSwap at the end of the month. However, they made it clear that they would only proceed if hostilities ceased.
The hacker stated,
“I said I was willing to negotiate. In return, I have received (mostly) threats, deadlines, and general unfriendliness from the executive team. Under the assumption that I am treated with further hostility, we can reschedule for a later date when we all feel more civil,”
issuing a veiled warning to the KyberSwap team.
KyberSwap’s initial response and legal threats
Initially, the KyberSwap team had proposed a bounty deal, offering the hacker the return of 90% of the stolen funds across all exploits while allowing the hacker to retain the remaining 10%. However, the situation took a turn when KyberSwap threatened legal action after the hacker did not comply promptly.
In a message dated KyberSwap stated,
“We have reached out to law enforcement and cybersecurity on this case. We have your footprints to track you. So it’s better for you if you take the first offer from our previous message before law enforcement and cybersecurity track you down.”
Additionally, KyberSwap informed the hacker of their intention to initiate a public bounty program, incentivizing individuals to provide information that could support law enforcement in tracking down the hacker and recovering user funds.
Recovery efforts and silence from KyberSwap
Notably, the KyberSwap team has already managed to recover $4.67 million of the stolen funds This recovery was made possible through actions against operators of front-running bots, who had extracted approximately $5.7 million in cryptocurrency from KyberSwap pools on the Polygon and Avalanche networks.
Despite these developments, KyberSwap has yet to respond to the latest message from the hacker, indicating that they may be awaiting the presentation of a new treaty proposal.
The hack, which occurred in November, was described by decentralized finance expert Doug Colkitt as an “infinite money glitch.” The attacker executed a complex and carefully engineered smart contract exploit across several networks implementing KyberSwap pools.
Funds were exploited not only from KyberSwap on Ethereum but also from networks including Avalanche, Polygon, and layer-2 solutions like Arbitrum, Optimism, and Base. This widespread impact underscores the significance and audacity of the attack.
KyberSwap, which operates on the Kyber Network, serves as a blockchain-based liquidity hub that aggregates liquidity across different blockchains, enabling the exchange of tokens without the need for intermediaries.
