Hacker Stole 4,000 Bitcoin From Liquid Network and Returned Most After Fix

A major crypto theft quickly took an unexpected turn as the attacker began giving back the digital assets after engineers addressed the suspected flaw.

A hacker stole approximately 4,000 bitcoins from a Liquid network wallet, worth about $340 million. The network is used by several cryptocurrency exchanges to settle transactions. The attack became one of the largest digital-asset thefts of 2026.

As reported by Techcrunch

The Liquid network, launched in 2018 by cryptocurrency company Blockstream, was temporarily halted on September 6 to investigate the circumstances of the incident.

A white-hat hacker stole funds from the network’s wallet, so Liquid’s operations were suspended until the incident was resolved, the network said in a post.

– Liquid network

The attacker’s identity has not yet been established. Cryptocurrency media speculate that the hacker exploited a technical vulnerability that allowed the assets to be withdrawn from the wallet. The hacker himself said he would return the funds after Blockstream fixed the problem.

Hacker returns most of the stolen bitcoins

On September 7, former Blockstream executive Samson Mow announced that the vulnerability had been fixed. According to him, the attacker had already returned approximately 3,400 of the 4,000 stolen bitcoins.

About 600 bitcoins remained under the hacker’s control, worth approximately $47 million at the time of the estimate. Liquid’s operations will not be restored until additional technical fixes are completed and the security system is strengthened.

The attack ranks among the largest digital-asset thefts. Liquid plans to fully resume operations only after completing security checks and implementing additional protective measures.