Return of $270 Million in Bitcoin Following Liquid Network Breach
- Purported white-hat hackers returned 3,400 Bitcoin worth about $270 million to the Liquid Federation wallet.
- The hackers had initially withdrawn approximately 4,000 BTC from the wallet’s reserves of roughly 4,200 BTC.
- Blockstream confirmed that affected bridge nodes were patched, and about 598 BTC remains outstanding.
- The return represents about 85% of the withdrawn Bitcoin, aiding in restoring backing for L-BTC issued by Liquid.
- The original withdrawal was processed through SideSwap’s Peg-out Authorization Key, which was not compromised.
Following a security incident on Sunday, Blockstream engaged with the actors via signed messages embedded in Bitcoin transactions to negotiate the return of funds. The Liquid network remains paused as further fixes and security improvements are implemented before a safe restart.
The return of 3,400 BTC significantly restores confidence in the network’s operations as it prepares for a restart after addressing vulnerabilities. (Source)
