Hacker Sent Vitalik Buterin OP Tokens, Promises To Return 18M More Under These Conditions

A hacker has returned 1 million OP tokens to Ethereum ETH/USD co-founder Vitalik Buterin. Some 18 million more tokens are expected to be returned once certain conditions are met.

What Happened: Following the recent exploit of Optimism OP/USD where 20 million OP were stolen due to a technical error by the protocol, the hacker pledged in an on-chain message to return 18 million OP — currently worth over $15 million.

Cryptocurrency market maker Wintermute announced that if the exploiter returned the stolen tokens to a specified address, they would write off the hack as a white hat exploit. The exploiter’s on-chain response stated, “And hello Wintermute, sorry, I only have 18M and this is what I can return. Stay Optimistic.”

Why It's Important: The recent exploit to Ethereum’s Layer 2 (L2) protocol induced OP’s price volatility. Separately, the breach revealed a Wintermute technical faux pas. According to reports, the smart contract Wintermute used to accept the tokens was still on L1. By not switching to L2, the hack was able to take advantage of the protocol’s shortcoming. Furthermore, the outcome of this exploit can be attributed to the transparency maintained by Optimism and Wintermute in their public efforts to reach out to the hacker and their accountability taken for the exploit.