A hacker stole thousands of bitcoins, valued at approximately $340 million, from the Liquid Network, a settlement exchange used by several cryptocurrency exchanges. The incident, which occurred on Sunday, represents one of the largest known thefts of cryptocurrency this year.
Liquid Network, launched in 2018 by Blockstream, stated in a post on X that a “white hat” hacker stole the funds from the network’s wallet. Operations have been paused until the incident is resolved.
Former Blockstream executive Samson Mow confirmed on Monday that the company had fixed a bug allegedly exploited by the hacker. Approximately 3,400 of the roughly 4,000 stolen bitcoins have been returned, with about 600 bitcoins, valued at around $47 million, remaining under the hacker’s control. Mow indicated that operations will stay paused until further security improvements are implemented.