Liquid Network hit by $320 million exploit, attacker claims to be a 'white hat'

The Bitcoin sidechain Liquid Network, developed by Blockstream (Blockstream), suspended operations after an attacker drained approximately 4,000 BTC, valued at $320 million, from its alliance wallet. Unlike typical private key compromises, the exploit originated from a software vulnerability in the open-source Elements system, allowing funds to flow through the authorized platform SideSwap. The attacker, claiming to be a white hat, has communicated via on-chain messages, promising to return the funds once the network nodes are patched and the vulnerability