Hacker steals $340M from Liquid Network, then returns most of it

A hacker stole roughly $340 million in Bitcoin from the Liquid Network, then returned most of the funds after the vulnerability was fixed, according to TechCrunch and crypto-industry reporting.

TechCrunch reports that an attacker stole approximately 4,000 Bitcoin, worth around $340 million, from the Liquid Network before returning most of the funds. The theft and partial return were first described in posts from Liquid and Blockstream, amplified by crypto-industry reporting.

What is not yet established

Key details still depend on Liquid and Blockstream statements rather than an independent forensic audit: the exact attack vector, the precise amount returned, and whether any funds remain outstanding. No sufficiently accessible independent primary verification was established while preparing this article.

Our opinion

A heist that ends with the thief giving the money back is the crypto industry’s strangest genre of good news. It usually means the attacker found a bug rather than a key, making funds traceable and pressure effective. Until an independent post-mortem confirms the details, treat this as a striking incident report rather than a closed case.