This one get’s wonky, so I’m keeping some terminology simple. This past week, some folks calling themselves white-hat-hackers drained 4,000 bitcoins out of a Bitcoin sidechain, or simply a variation of Bitcoin itself called Liquid. They leveraged a new bug, then told the owners about it, and then put back 3400 bitcoins, keeping the remaining as a self-titled reward of about $47 million. Now, I mentioned they called themselves white-hat-hackers. Let’s define the hats… out of the cowboy movie eras where the good guys wore white, villains wore black, and the remaining had grey. We’ve used these terms for years. White hat hackers work with permission, and keep nothing for themselves. Grey hats work in a less altruistic manner, and may ask for or keep a small finders fee. Black hats keep the plunder and move on. At a $47 million pricetag, or about 15% of the original value, one has to wonder if the hats were indeed the deep dark black of space.
Hat color is one of several lingering questions.
