A hacker stole $340M in a crypto heist, then returned most of it

In Brief

A hacker stole thousands of bitcoins worthy astir $340 cardinal successful a heist astatine a colony speech utilized by respective cryptocurrency exchanges, representing 1 of the largest known thefts of crypto this year.

Liquid Network, which launched successful 2018 by crypto steadfast Blockstream, said in a station connected X connected Sunday that a “white hat” hacker stole the funds from the network’s wallet, and that it has paused operations until the incidental is resolved.

It’s not yet known who the hacker is, but crypto media reports that the hacker allegedly exploited a bug to retreat the funds. The hacker said they would instrumentality the funds if Blockstream fixed the bug.

Former Blockstream enforcement Samson Mow said in a station connected X connected Monday that the institution had fixed the bug, and astir 3,400 of the astir 4,000 stolen bitcoins had been returned. The remaining astir 600 bitcoins (about $47 million) were inactive nether the hacker’s control.

Mow said operations volition stay paused until further fixes and information improvements are made anterior to restarting.

The theft ranks arsenic 1 of the largest heists of integer funds to date, according to the Rekt leaderboard, which tracks cryptocurrency thefts.

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