Hackers Return 414 ETH Worth IDR 11.8 Billion Stolen From Sentiment.xyz

Hackers return stolen funds in the form of crypto ETH. (Photo; Doc. Unsplash)

JAKARTA - The Sentiment.xyz platform, which was the victim of a hacker attack on April 4, has received part of the funds stolen by the perpetrators. On April 5, the platform announced that it would reward $95,000 if hackers wanted to return the stolen funds.

The offer was submitted in the form of an on-chain transaction on the Arbitrum blockchain. In his message, Sentiment.xyz said that they would not pursue the perpetrators if the perpetrator returned the stolen funds before the specified deadline, namely April 6 at 8 am UTC.

However, if the perpetrator does not return the funds, then the prizes will be given to anyone who has succeeded in helping Sentiment.xyz to find the whereabouts of the perpetrators.

Shortly thereafter, there were reports from MyCrypto founder and Metamask developer Taylor Monahan, who stated that the perpetrator had returned 414 ETH worth US$792,000 (IDR 11.8 billion) at 10.30 p.m. UTC on April 5. However, Sentiment.xyz itself has not confirmed whether they have received the funds.

Launching CryptoNews, Sentiment.xyz suffered considerable losses due to hacker attacks, with an initial estimate of US$500,000 (Rp7.4 billion) and then raised to around US$1 million (Rp14.9 billion).

Following up on the incident, this platform temporarily suspended its main contract and allowed only withdrawal of funds. Sentiment.xyz claims that they have managed to overcome the problem and users can return to paying debts and open up positions.

Sentiment.xyz stated that efforts to return the stolen funds were their top priority. They also said they had been working with the authorities and internal contributors to find the whereabouts of the perpetrators, although this may no longer be necessary if the perpetrators are cooperative.

The attack on Sentiment.xyz is in line with a similar attack that hit the Euler Finance project. However, both projects managed to negotiate with the perpetrators and regain most of the funds stolen by hackers.