Liquid Network Attacker Returns 3,400 BTC, Approximately 600 BTC Remain Outstanding

An attacker who drained 4,000 BTC from the Liquid Network has returned 3,400 BTC (approximately $269.2 million) to the federation wallet, recovering about 85% of the stolen funds. The incident began when a user sent 4,000 L-BTC to the SideSwap peg-out service. The attacker, claiming to be a 'white hat hacker,' demanded a vulnerability fix before returning the assets. Blockstream confirmed the bridge nodes were patched, prompting the partial return. Approximately 598.5 BTC (about $47 million) remains in the attacker's address.