[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"branding":3,"analytics":7,"article-hackers-steal-313m-from-liquid-network-then-give-most-back":10,"sections":34},{"siteName":4,"siteTagline":5,"publisherName":4,"contactEmail":6},"The Revision","Tech news, decoded.","editor@therevision.news",{"gaMeasurementId":8,"adsenseClientId":9},"G-ZW2MV82GYR","ca-pub-8533917693782264",{"article":11},{"id":12,"slug":13,"title":14,"dek":15,"body_md":16,"tags_json":17,"published_at":18,"created_at":19,"updated_at":20,"status":21,"review_note":22,"review_notes":23,"image_url":22,"persona_id":22,"persona_name":22,"section":24,"tags":25,"sources":29,"feedback":33,"feedback_at":22,"cost_usd":33,"total_tokens":33},6177,"hackers-steal-313m-from-liquid-network-then-give-most-back","Hackers Steal $313M From Liquid Network, Then Give Most Back","Attackers exploited a bug in Liquid Network's SideSwap bridge to drain $313 million in Bitcoin, then returned all but about $47 million once a patch shipped.","Attackers stole nearly all of Liquid Network's Bitcoin reserve this week, then gave most of it back.\n\nAttackers minted roughly 4,000 L-BTC, the token used on Blockstream's Liquid sidechain, without depositing the real Bitcoin required to back it. They ran the fake tokens through SideSwap, a legitimate conversion service that a bug couldn't distinguish from real L-BTC, tricking the Liquid Federation into releasing 3,998 actual BTC (worth about $313 million) to the attackers' wallets. Liquid halted new transactions immediately while Blockstream scrambled to patch the affected bridge nodes. The attackers then messaged operators on-chain, promising to return the funds once every node was patched, and after Blockstream confirmed the fix, they sent back 3,400 BTC, leaving roughly 598 BTC (about $47 million) still outstanding.\n\nThe instructive part isn't the hack itself, it's the negotiation. Ransomware crews demand payment to stay quiet; these attackers demanded a patch before they'd give the money back, functioning less like thieves and more like an unlicensed, extremely blunt bug-bounty program. It's also a reminder that sidechains and bridges, the plumbing that lets Bitcoin move fast between systems, remain a persistent weak point in crypto security, the same category of flaw behind years of bridge exploits elsewhere in the industry.\n\nWhether the outstanding 598 BTC ever comes back is now a matter of the hackers' goodwill, not code, which is exactly the kind of security model nobody should be relying on.","[\"bitcoin\",\"liquid-network\",\"security\",\"blockstream\"]","2026-09-08T17:05:00.000Z","2026-09-08T18:16:34.732Z","2026-09-08T18:16:46.624Z","published",null,[],"security",[26,27,24,28],"bitcoin","liquid-network","blockstream",[30],{"name":31,"url":32},"TechRadar","https:\u002F\u002Fwww.techradar.com\u002Fpro\u002Fsecurity\u002Fliquid-network-halts-new-transactions-after-nice-guy-hackers-steal-nearly-all-its-bitcoin-but-then-return-most-of-it-after-a-patch-is-issued",0,{"sections":35},[36,41,44,49,54,59,64,68,73,78,83,88,93,98],{"name":37,"slug":38,"count":39,"latest_published_at":40},"AI","ai",3480,"2026-09-11T04:00:00.000Z",{"name":42,"slug":24,"count":43,"latest_published_at":40},"Security",629,{"name":45,"slug":46,"count":47,"latest_published_at":48},"Policy","policy",336,"2026-09-11T00:56:21.000Z",{"name":50,"slug":51,"count":52,"latest_published_at":53},"Deals","deals",179,"2026-06-29T20:02:07.000Z",{"name":55,"slug":56,"count":57,"latest_published_at":58},"Hardware","hardware",153,"2026-09-09T15:12:32.000Z",{"name":60,"slug":61,"count":62,"latest_published_at":63},"Consumer Tech","consumer-tech",99,"2026-09-09T17:27:33.000Z",{"name":65,"slug":66,"count":67,"latest_published_at":40},"Science","science",98,{"name":69,"slug":70,"count":71,"latest_published_at":72},"Software","software",75,"2026-09-10T20:41:21.000Z",{"name":74,"slug":75,"count":76,"latest_published_at":77},"Dev Tools","dev-tools",69,"2026-08-18T04:00:00.000Z",{"name":79,"slug":80,"count":81,"latest_published_at":82},"Startups","startups",55,"2026-09-09T23:14:29.000Z",{"name":84,"slug":85,"count":86,"latest_published_at":87},"Gaming","gaming",43,"2026-09-10T12:18:06.000Z",{"name":89,"slug":90,"count":91,"latest_published_at":92},"General","general",41,"2026-09-08T01:57:23.000Z",{"name":94,"slug":95,"count":96,"latest_published_at":97},"Reviews","reviews",20,"2026-06-24T12:00:01.000Z",{"name":99,"slug":100,"count":101,"latest_published_at":102},"How-To","how-to",6,"2026-06-16T09:00:00.000Z"]