9 ms·

Why do they say it's white hat hackers?

by skinfaxi 10d ago

simonw 10d ago
Presumably to try and reduce the chance of a mass panic among their users.
- mvdtnz 10d ago
  What do they care if there's a panic? They have "paused the sidechain". No one can act on their panic.
  - cool_dude85 10d ago
    Wasn't this all supposed to be decentralized? How can a foundation choose to unilaterally "pause the sidechain"?
    - Kranar 10d ago
      BTC Liquid Network is not decentralized and does not purport to be. It's a federated sidechain, that is... it's a blockchain that runs alongside the Bitcoin blockchain (using a two-way peg that lock real BTC on the Bitcoin blockchain and issues an equivalent amount of Liquid BTC on the Liquid sidechain) but blocks can only be added to the Liquid Network sidechain by some of the handpicked members of the federation.
      - esseph 10d ago
        [flagged]
    - thephyber 10d ago
      You are conflating the original BTC network and a lot of the other projects in the cryptocurrency / token / stable currency space. Every time there was a new token that was 80% reminded or was governed by a central company, the original cryptocurrency enthusiasts cried fowl. Most people don't read the fine print, don't read the founding white papers, and don't care about the differences between the protocols and the networks when they should.
      - vkou 10d ago
        I think it's more that the 'original cryptocurrency enthusiasts' tend to look the other way, because the more of these weird shitcoins/nfts/networks get minted, the more their numbers go up. It's 2026. Show of hands, who here actually uses any of this, and why?
- jeremyjh 10d ago
  9 times out of 10 when an exchange or broker is "hacked" its been the operators of the exchange.
  - thephyber 10d ago
    You have worded this like a fact, but this is your opinion.
  - pingupongu 10d ago
    It's just another psyop to accomplish some job by bitcoiners for bitcoiners.
tom_ 10d ago
Purported white-hat hackers. The implication is that these people are presumably describing themselves as such, but it may not actually be true.
- kennywinker 10d ago
  I can imagine one’s hat changing color when faced with a pot that big…
  - cyanydeez 10d ago
    [flagged]
- wjnc 10d ago
  This is funny. Is this analogous to finding a wallet on the street and returning it (in my locale: and getting a finders fee), or is this analogous to taking a wallet from a drunk sleeping person (morally dubious), contacting them the day after to return the wallet, or is it just stealing per se. Where I live it's only theft if there is an intention to unlawfully take ownership of the good. As an example, forgetting to pay in a supermarket lies exactly on that boundary. Take a cart or hide a product and you won't get away. Try to pay, payment fails and you don't notice, walk away and get apprehended and you might convince the judge that you had no intention to unlawfully take ownership.
  - enoint 9d ago
    Well, exploits are different than sticky fingers. Those white hats could claim they raided preventatively.
  - embedding-shape 9d ago
    > This is funny. Is this analogous to finding a wallet on the street and returning it (in my locale: and getting a finders fee), or is this analogous to taking a wallet from a drunk sleeping person (morally dubious), contacting them the day after to return the wallet, or is it just stealing per se. Kind of in-between I'd say. You find a wallet, on a bench, next to sleeping person, and you see lots of other people eying the wallet to take for themselves. You take the wallet to prevent others from taking it essentially. Not saying these people for sure are whitehats/grayhats, who knows until the funds are returned, but that's basically how grayhatters see themselves.
faitswulff 10d ago
The same reason scam artists describe themselves as businessmen
greyface- 10d ago
While moving the funds, the attackers left an OP_RETURN message with the text "we are whitehats. contact us on chain" https://mempool.space/tx/c103de95817b43f2df635ec6f35ff126ca26a7c6d20570c4b01866b2b3e69a19 https://mempool.space/tx/c103de95817b43f2df635ec6f35ff126ca2...
- deleted 10d ago
  [deleted]
- greyface- 10d ago
  Further on-chain communications: https://mempool.space/tx/91271efcbb5ab29abfc38ae635f0644e3ba042aad56f92d40136e1dde4742fe8 https://mempool.space/tx/91271efcbb5ab29abfc38ae635f0644e3ba... "Please contact security@blockstream.com" https://mempool.space/tx/bd81219691eb1e22475c5985d847fa888c38f1b6d2cb2b7193f54d0cfa72394c https://mempool.space/tx/bd81219691eb1e22475c5985d847fa888c3... from Blockstream, unknown PGP message https://mempool.space/tx/3a3eac4a26395b8c2563aaf1eb8b1b77798c81c7d6337f51321827a244a480aa https://mempool.space/tx/3a3eac4a26395b8c2563aaf1eb8b1b77798... from attackers, "sending most back to bc1qdlld6antmv4xug242ed83q7k4rqw50cwfns38szx4qu2f4jwaxxsuhwxxr, is that ok" https://mempool.space/tx/8a444eed65c4584f138e08ee138f61490ef73e84f71e14dac3ca66c230cf7e97 https://mempool.space/tx/8a444eed65c4584f138e08ee138f61490ef... from Blockstream, PGP-signed "Yes, thank you." https://mempool.space/tx/83825b2135dd0abac12c9dfe17f29ab81b3427e1ae864947b0bebce5e47c3c4b https://mempool.space/tx/83825b2135dd0abac12c9dfe17f29ab81b3... from attackers, "Please fix the bug first. The chain is under risk at latest commit right now. Make sure every node is patched. Then we will transfer the money back safely after confirming the fix. The detail is as follows (encrypted using https://blockstream.com/pgp.txt https://blockstream.com/pgp.txt)." with unknown PGP-encrypted payload As of writing, no response from Blockstream, and funds are still controlled by the attackers.

Why do they say it's white hat hackers?

simonw 10d ago

Presumably to try and reduce the chance of a mass panic among their users.

mvdtnz 10d ago
What do they care if there's a panic? They have "paused the sidechain". No one can act on their panic.
- cool_dude85 10d ago
  Wasn't this all supposed to be decentralized? How can a foundation choose to unilaterally "pause the sidechain"?
  - Kranar 10d ago
    BTC Liquid Network is not decentralized and does not purport to be. It's a federated sidechain, that is... it's a blockchain that runs alongside the Bitcoin blockchain (using a two-way peg that lock real BTC on the Bitcoin blockchain and issues an equivalent amount of Liquid BTC on the Liquid sidechain) but blocks can only be added to the Liquid Network sidechain by some of the handpicked members of the federation.
    - esseph 10d ago
      [flagged]
  - thephyber 10d ago
    You are conflating the original BTC network and a lot of the other projects in the cryptocurrency / token / stable currency space. Every time there was a new token that was 80% reminded or was governed by a central company, the original cryptocurrency enthusiasts cried fowl. Most people don't read the fine print, don't read the founding white papers, and don't care about the differences between the protocols and the networks when they should.
    - vkou 10d ago
      I think it's more that the 'original cryptocurrency enthusiasts' tend to look the other way, because the more of these weird shitcoins/nfts/networks get minted, the more their numbers go up. It's 2026. Show of hands, who here actually uses any of this, and why?
jeremyjh 10d ago
9 times out of 10 when an exchange or broker is "hacked" its been the operators of the exchange.
- thephyber 10d ago
  You have worded this like a fact, but this is your opinion.
- pingupongu 10d ago
  It's just another psyop to accomplish some job by bitcoiners for bitcoiners.

tom_ 10d ago

Purported white-hat hackers. The implication is that these people are presumably describing themselves as such, but it may not actually be true.

kennywinker 10d ago
I can imagine one’s hat changing color when faced with a pot that big…
- cyanydeez 10d ago
  [flagged]
wjnc 10d ago
This is funny. Is this analogous to finding a wallet on the street and returning it (in my locale: and getting a finders fee), or is this analogous to taking a wallet from a drunk sleeping person (morally dubious), contacting them the day after to return the wallet, or is it just stealing per se. Where I live it's only theft if there is an intention to unlawfully take ownership of the good. As an example, forgetting to pay in a supermarket lies exactly on that boundary. Take a cart or hide a product and you won't get away. Try to pay, payment fails and you don't notice, walk away and get apprehended and you might convince the judge that you had no intention to unlawfully take ownership.
- enoint 9d ago
  Well, exploits are different than sticky fingers. Those white hats could claim they raided preventatively.
- embedding-shape 9d ago
  > This is funny. Is this analogous to finding a wallet on the street and returning it (in my locale: and getting a finders fee), or is this analogous to taking a wallet from a drunk sleeping person (morally dubious), contacting them the day after to return the wallet, or is it just stealing per se. Kind of in-between I'd say. You find a wallet, on a bench, next to sleeping person, and you see lots of other people eying the wallet to take for themselves. You take the wallet to prevent others from taking it essentially. Not saying these people for sure are whitehats/grayhats, who knows until the funds are returned, but that's basically how grayhatters see themselves.

faitswulff 10d ago

The same reason scam artists describe themselves as businessmen

greyface- 10d ago

While moving the funds, the attackers left an OP_RETURN message with the text "we are whitehats. contact us on chain" https://mempool.space/tx/c103de95817b43f2df635ec6f35ff126ca26a7c6d20570c4b01866b2b3e69a19 https://mempool.space/tx/c103de95817b43f2df635ec6f35ff126ca2...

deleted 10d ago
[deleted]
greyface- 10d ago
Further on-chain communications: https://mempool.space/tx/91271efcbb5ab29abfc38ae635f0644e3ba042aad56f92d40136e1dde4742fe8 https://mempool.space/tx/91271efcbb5ab29abfc38ae635f0644e3ba... "Please contact security@blockstream.com" https://mempool.space/tx/bd81219691eb1e22475c5985d847fa888c38f1b6d2cb2b7193f54d0cfa72394c https://mempool.space/tx/bd81219691eb1e22475c5985d847fa888c3... from Blockstream, unknown PGP message https://mempool.space/tx/3a3eac4a26395b8c2563aaf1eb8b1b77798c81c7d6337f51321827a244a480aa https://mempool.space/tx/3a3eac4a26395b8c2563aaf1eb8b1b77798... from attackers, "sending most back to bc1qdlld6antmv4xug242ed83q7k4rqw50cwfns38szx4qu2f4jwaxxsuhwxxr, is that ok" https://mempool.space/tx/8a444eed65c4584f138e08ee138f61490ef73e84f71e14dac3ca66c230cf7e97 https://mempool.space/tx/8a444eed65c4584f138e08ee138f61490ef... from Blockstream, PGP-signed "Yes, thank you." https://mempool.space/tx/83825b2135dd0abac12c9dfe17f29ab81b3427e1ae864947b0bebce5e47c3c4b https://mempool.space/tx/83825b2135dd0abac12c9dfe17f29ab81b3... from attackers, "Please fix the bug first. The chain is under risk at latest commit right now. Make sure every node is patched. Then we will transfer the money back safely after confirming the fix. The detail is as follows (encrypted using https://blockstream.com/pgp.txt https://blockstream.com/pgp.txt)." with unknown PGP-encrypted payload As of writing, no response from Blockstream, and funds are still controlled by the attackers.