Liquid Network Hacked: 4,000 Bitcoin Drained in White Hat Claimed Attack

A large-scale attack on Blockstream's Liquid Network has drained 4,000 Bitcoin from its federation wallet. The attackers claim to be white hats, but their actions are raising suspicions about their true intentions.

The incident occurred on September 6, 2026, when the attackers sent 4,000 L-BTC (Liquid Bitcoin) tokens to SideSwap, a federation member, and then redeemed them for 3,996 BTC. This left 95% of the federation wallet's Bitcoin backing drained in one transaction.

Blockstream has paused the network and blocked redemptions, preventing holders of L-BTC from converting their tokens back into real coins. The attackers' message attached to the transaction read 'we are whitehats. contact us on chain,' which has been met with skepticism by experts.