Hackers Drain $320 Million From Liquid Network, Then Return Most of It
Brief
Crypto exchange network Liquid Network lost $320 million overnight, then got most of it back after the hackers demanded a bug fix instead of a ransom
Bitcoin’s Liquid Network, a sidechain built by Blockstream and used by dozens of exchanges to move funds faster and more privately than the main Bitcoin blockchain allows, got drained of roughly 4,000 of the 4,200 Bitcoin sitting in its federation wallet on September 6.
The attackers, who described themselves as white-hat hackers, have since returned 3,400 of those crypto coins, worth around $262.6 million, while keeping roughly 598 BTC, close to $47 million, for themselves.
Update: 3,400 BTC of the roughly 4,000 BTC withdrawn on September 6 has been returned to the @Liquid_BTC Federation wallet. The return followed confirmation from @Blockstream that the affected bridge nodes have been patched.