On March 16, Euler Finance, a decentralized finance( DeFi) protocol, blazoned that it had been the victim of a massive hack in which a aggregate of$ 197 million was stolen. This was snappily dubbed the biggest DeFi hack of 2023 so far and transferred shockwaves through the crypto community.

The hacker was suitable to drain the finances through a series of multiple deals, and also used a multichain ground to transfer the stolen finances from the Binance Smart Chain to Ethereum.

The hacker also moved the stolen finances into the crypto mixer Tornado Cash, making it delicate to track the finances. still, on March 18, there was a surprising development when the hacker reportedly returned around$5.4 million in Ether to Euler Finance’s deployer address. The finances were transferred in three deals, and it’s unclear why the hacker decided to return the finances.

This isn’t the first time that a hacker has returned stolen finances after a high- profile hack. In 2016, the hacker who stole$ 55 million from the DAO returned the stolen finances, citing a” bug” in the law.

It’s possible that the hacker behind the Euler Finance hack had a change of heart, or was dragooned to return the finances after Euler Finance blazoned a$ 1 million price for information on the hacker’s identity.

Euler Finance has demanded that the hacker return 90 of the stolen finances within 24 hours to avoid possible jail time. It remains to be seen whether the hacker will misbehave with this demand, or whether the rest of the stolen finances will be returned. The Euler Finance hack highlights the ongoing security pitfalls in the DeFi space.

DeFi protocols are designed to be open and transparent, but this also makes them vulnerable to attacks. It’s important for DeFi protocols to take measures to ameliorate their security, similar as performing regular checkups and enforcing multi-factor authentication for stoner accounts. Only by doing so can DeFi protocols gain the trust of druggies and investors likewise.