"White-Hat" Hackers Drain $320 Million From Liquid Network
Sep 7, 2026
An attacker claiming to be a white-hat hacker pulled nearly 4,000 BTC out of Liquid Network's federation wallet, forcing the sidechain to pause operations.
A Sidechain Goes Dark
Liquid Network, the Bitcoin sidechain built for faster and more private transfers, had a rough day. An attacker drained roughly 3,998 BTC, worth about $320 million, straight out of the network's federation wallet. The team responded fast, pausing the entire sidechain while they figure out what happened.
Wait, White Hat?
Here's the twist: whoever pulled this off is claiming to be a white-hat hacker, not a thief. The message left on-chain basically said "contact us," which is the kind of thing you see when someone wants a bug bounty rather than a getaway car. Still, moving that much BTC without warning first is a strange way to prove good intentions.
Why This Matters
Liquid is a federated sidechain, meaning a group of trusted members controls the peg between BTC and its wrapped version, L-BTC. Incidents like this always reopen the same question for traders: how much do you actually trust a bridge with your coins? Until Liquid confirms what happened, expect some nerves around anything built on federated custody.