Liquid Hackers Return $270M in Bitcoin After Swiping $320 Million
Summary
Self-described “white hat hackers” returned 3,400 BTC to Liquid Network’s federation wallet after withdrawing about 4,000 BTC through a peg-out service, recovering roughly 85% of the funds. About 598.5 BTC, worth around $47 million, remains unreturned. Liquid shut down bridge nodes and asked exchanges to halt L-BTC deposits and withdrawals while the issue is resolved. The actors claimed they were helping expose a bug and said the network was at risk until nodes were patched; Blockstream later confirmed bridge nodes were patched and safe for the funds’ return. Skepticism remains over the “white hat” claim, with concern the retained BTC may amount to extortion rather than a negotiated reward.
