Key facts
- A hacker stole approximately $340 million in Bitcoin from the Liquid Network.
- The hacker returned about $293 million of the stolen funds.
- Roughly $47 million in Bitcoin remains unaccounted for.
- The Liquid Network has paused operations due to the incident.
- The theft is one of the largest crypto heists this year.
A hacker stole approximately $340 million worth of Bitcoin from the Liquid Network, a settlement exchange utilized by several cryptocurrency exchanges. The incident, which occurred on Sunday, has led to the network pausing its operations until the situation is resolved.
The identity of the hacker remains unknown, but reports suggest a bug in the network was exploited to withdraw the funds. The hacker allegedly stated they would return the stolen cryptocurrency if the bug was fixed.
Samson Mow, a former executive at Blockstream, announced on Monday that the company had addressed the bug. Approximately 3,400 of the roughly 4,000 stolen Bitcoin, valued at around $293 million, have been returned. However, an estimated 600 Bitcoin, worth about $47 million, are still in the hacker's possession.
Mow indicated that operations would remain suspended until further security enhancements are implemented. The theft ranks among the most significant cryptocurrency heists recorded this year, according to the Rekt leaderboard.