Hackers steal $320 million in crypto from Bitcoin network used by exchanges: What the company has to say

A high-speed blockchain network relied on by multiple cryptocurrency trading platforms has been hit by a massive hacking, resulting in the theft of roughly $320 million and dealing another sharp blow to digital asset safety. Liquid Network, a specialised sidechain built to accelerate transaction speeds between trading desks, confirmed on X (formerly Twitter) that approximately 4,000 out of the 4,200 Bitcoin held in its primary Federation storage wallet were removed without authorisation.Liquid Network halts activity amid wallet impactIn response to the drain, network administrators moved swiftly to freeze all incoming and outgoing settlement activity to prevent further exposure. The company also posted a long statement confirming the security breach:We are aware of a security incident on @Liquid_BTC. Purported white-hat hackers have withdrawn ~4,000 BTC (~$320 million) from the Liquid Federation wallet. The @Blockstream team is working on contacting them on-chain with a signed message.What we know so far is that the funds were withdrawn via the SideSwap PAK (Peg-out Authorization Key), but that key was not compromised, nor were any others.Exchanges have been notified and have already paused (or will pause) LBTC deposits and withdrawals. Other Liquid assets such as USDT, DePix, and RWAs are unaffected by this security incident.Bridge nodes have been temporarily disabled, so no new transactions can be submitted to the network. Effectively, the Liquid sidechain is paused until this issue is resolved.Liquid wallets will be impacted, and we're sorry for any inconvenience. Federation members are actively working on resolving this so we can restore normal network activity.The multi-million-dollar extraction comes during an escalating wave of cyberattacks targeting digital asset infrastructure. Last week, hackers siphoned $6 million from an asset-lending protocol associated with Crypto.com. A security breach concerning Coldcard, a well-liked offline Bitcoin storage device, in August prompted a burst of debate throughout the industry on the best ways to keep digital possessions safe.Get the latest technology news and updates. Download the TOI App.