We might not know who stole 340,000 ether ($50 million) from crypto exchange UPbit today but, due to a weird quirk of the blockchain, people are able to message him or her. And, unsurprisingly, they are asking for a piece of the pie.
“Hi! Congratulations. Im [sic] coinpoor. Joy is multiplied as you share. Please give me 100 Ether,” said one hopeful observer to the hacker.
The South Korean exchange acknowledged that it had lost the money but refused to specify whether it was hacked or if it was an inside job. The funds were sent in one transaction to an unrecognized account. It then moved other funds to its own cold wallets for safekeeping and closed deposits and withdrawals on the exchange.
At the moment, all funds are sitting in this wallet. Since the initial Ethereum transaction when the theft occurred, other people have sent 40 transactions of small amounts of ether to the wallet. It’s likely they’re doing so in order to track any further movement of the stolen funds—a technique known as a dusting attack.
But a few of the transactions have notes included, petitioning the hacker to share the money with them, as pointed out by Matthew Graham, CEO of Sino Global Capital.
“Seeking support to build [an] economy of abundance on the blockchain. Your generosity will be remembered,” one note said.
Another comment said: “I am Trump, give me 1000 ethers, I will let the world [be in] peace.”
The hacker has seemingly ignored these messages and the funds haven’t moved, for now.