Hacker warned to refund money by market maker Wintermute or face legal consequences

Market maker Wintermute has spoken with the hacker who stole $160 million from the company on Tuesday over the Ethereum blockchain.

The message, which was sent at 00:00 UTC on Thursday, warned the hacker that Wintermute will go to the authorities if the funds weren’t returned by the end of the day. It asked the hacker to take the $16 million “whitehat” prize and give Wintermute the remaining almost $144 million.

“We want to cooperate with you and resolve this matter immediately. Accept the terms of the bounty and return the funds within 24 hours before September 22nd UST by 23:59 while we can still consider this a white-hat event for a 10% bounty as offered,” the message said.

The message continued by stating that the hacker would be referred as a “white hat” (a term used to describe ethical hackers) if they returned the funds. This suggests a promise that if the person agrees with the request, no legal action will be pursued.

The hacker still has 12 hours as of this writing to accept the bounty offer. The team would seek to contact the “relevant authorities and avenues,” the company stated in its on-chain statement if the exploiter does not return the assets (without the bounty).

“If the stolen funds are not returned by the deadline, you will force us to remove our bounty offer and white-hat label; we will then proceed accordingly with the appropriate authorities and avenues,” Wintermute wrote.