Liquid Network Hack Explained: $320 Million in Bitcoin Drained, 85% Returned, and the $47 Million Question
Key TakeawaysOn Sunday, September 6, 2026, self described whitehat hackers withdrew about 4,000 Bitcoin (BTC), worth roughly $320 million, from the federation wallet backing Blockstream's Liquid Network, about 95% of the sidechain's reserves of around 4,200 BTC.The attackers exploited a bug in Elements, the open source software underlying Liquid, to create L-BTC that was not backed by real Bitcoin, then pegged it out through SideSwap's peg out authorization path. Blockstream says the key itself