Hackers Return $5.7M in Crypto: A Story of Money, Bounties, and Really Fast Transfers

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Well, well, well, look who came crawling back with the goods. ZKsync, in a shocking turn of events, has recovered $5.7 million in stolen digital assets after a hacker had the audacity to take it and then (wait for it…) agreed to return it. Why? Oh, just a small bounty deal that involved the hacker keeping 10% of the loot. Because, you know, *everyone* deserves a cut.

Hacker Plays Nice Within ‘Safe Harbor’ Window (Weird, Right?)

So here’s the twist: On April 23, ZKsync posted a *very* official statement on X (formerly known as Twitter, or whatever) saying the hacker, who decided to be kind and not a total monster, returned 90% of the stolen tokens. How did they make it so easy for this person? Oh, they offered a sweet “safe harbor” deal on April 21. Basically, if the hacker gave back the money, they could keep 10% as a little reward. Because who doesn’t want to steal $5.7M and then get a pat on the back for returning most of it?

The hacker actually followed the rules! They executed three super-fast transactions on the ZKsync Era blockchain on April 23, transferring a cool $2.47 million in ZKsync tokens and another $1.83 million in Ether to the Security Council. Oh, and in case you’re wondering, an extra 776 ETH (worth nearly $1.4 million) also showed up in the Security Council’s Ethereum address. All this within 13 minutes. I mean, who says criminals can’t be punctual?

The Hack: It’s Like They Stole 111 Million Tokens from a Magic Fund

Let’s rewind. On April 15, someone decided to “borrow” around 111 million ZK tokens from some unclaimed airdrop reserves. And no, they didn’t affect any core systems or user funds—just the airdrop contracts. *Phew*—but still, that’s a lot of tokens to steal. ZKsync was in the middle of giving away 17.5% of its total supply. Talk about bad timing for a hack, huh?

But don’t worry, Matter Labs, the brains behind ZKsync, quickly stepped in. They filtered out transactions from the compromised addresses. And guess what? They *could* have lifted that filter at any time. *Wow, what a power move*.

When Tokens Increase in Value, You Get More Money Back!

Here’s a fun little nugget: because ZK tokens and Ether had increased in value, the recovered assets were worth more than what was initially stolen. CoinGecko reported a 16.6% surge in ZK token value and an 8.8% increase in Ether. A little “thanks” from the crypto market, I guess.

What’s Next? Well, Governance Gets to Make the Call

Now the big question is: what happens to the recovered assets? That’s up to the governance framework of ZKsync. Basically, a group of people will decide what to do with all that cash. Hold your breath for that decision.

In case you’re wondering if we’re going to find out all the details, ZKsync confirmed that a full investigation is underway. A final report is coming soon, so stay tuned for that thrilling conclusion.

“The assets are now in custody of the Security Council, and the decision on what will be done with the assets will be made by governance. The final investigation report is being prepared and will be published once completed.” – That’s the *official* word.

In the meantime, Matter Labs also reposted the update on their social media channels because, hey, transparency is the name of the game. They’re promising a detailed report once the investigation wraps up, so mark your calendars for that exciting reveal.

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2025-04-24 20:05