Pushkala Aripaka and Tom Wilson

(Reuters) – Hackers stole cryptocurrency in excess of $320 million from a Decentralized Finance Platform. This is the fourth largest crypto heist and latest shakeup to the rapidly-growing DeFi industry.

Wormhole is a website that permits the transmission of information between crypto networks. On Wednesday, Twitter (NYSE:), Wormhole stated that 120,000 units were being “exploited” to obtain a version the second largest cryptocurrency, ether.

Wormhole has not yet responded to Reuters’ request for comment.

Elliptic, a London-based blockchain analysis company, stated that hackers were able fraudulently to create the tokens wETH. Nearly 94,000 were then transferred to the Ethereum blockchain which handles transactions for ether.

Wormhole stated in a tweet that they had resolved the vulnerability but were still trying to restore the network.

DeFi platforms are a way for users to borrow, lend and save in cryptocurrency. They also allow them to bypass traditional finance gatekeepers such as banks.

DeFi websites have seen a surge in cash, reflecting the growing interest in cryptocurrency. DeFi is a popular choice for investors who have historically low, or very low, interest rates. They are attracted by its promise of high savings returns.

DeFi platforms are a significant hacking threat due to bugs in code, design flaws, and other vulnerabilities that allow criminals to access DeFi sites, deep liquidity pools, and to also launder proceeds from crime while leaving little trace.

According to research, fraud at DeFi platforms was more than $10 billion. This reveals the risk in this fast-growing and unregulated field of cryptocurrency.

Hackers responsible for the largest ever cyber-coin heist have returned almost all the $610million plus they took from Poly Network’s DeFi site.

Crypto platforms have been plagued by hackers for years. Coincheck in Tokyo was the victim of a cyberattack that took $530million worth digital tokens. Mt. Gox was another Japanese exchange that collapsed after thieves stole half a million dollars worth of crypto.