Here’s what happened in crypto today

Today in crypto, purported white hats returned 3,400 BTC worth about $270 million to Liquid’s federation wallet as Blockstream prepares the paused network for a restart. Hunter Biden unveiled plans for a LAPTOP memecoin that will distribute tokens to holders of President Donald Trump’s memecoin, while Citi and DBS completed a weekend cross-border payment using tokenized deposits on SWIFT.

Liquid ‘white hats’ return $270M in Bitcoin as network prepares restart

White-hat hackers returned 3,400 Bitcoin worth about $270 million to the Liquid Federation wallet after withdrawing roughly $320 million from the Bitcoin sidechain’s reserves. 

On Monday, JAN3 CEO and former Blockstream executive Samson Mow said the return followed confirmation from Blockstream that the affected bridge nodes had been patched. He said about 598 BTC remains outstanding and that Blockstream continues to engage with the actors.

The return follows a Sunday security incident in which hackers withdrew about 4,000 BTC from the wallet’s roughly 4,200 BTC. Onchain records show that exactly 3,400 BTC was transferred back to the federation’s wallet address. 

Blockstream said updated software had been deployed and federation members were preparing for a coordinated restart. Liquid issues L-BTC against Bitcoin held by its federation, so the return of about 85% of the withdrawn Bitcoin restores much of the backing removed in the incident as the paused network prepares to resume operations. 

Hunter Biden to launch LAPTOP memecoin, airdrop tokens to TRUMP holders

Former President Joe Biden’s son, Hunter Biden, plans to launch a memecoin called LAPTOP on Wednesday, with 20% of its one-billion-token supply earmarked for holders of President Donald Trump’s memecoin and others, according to The Wall Street Journal.

The token takes its name from Biden’s laptop, which became a major political controversy ahead of the 2020 presidential election. Biden and the project’s co-founders will initially control 30% of the supply, with those tokens locked for six months and fully vested over two years. Another 20% is designated for charity and operating expenses.

The project also includes an unusual token-burning mechanism tied to political and market events. Up to 30% of LAPTOP’s supply could be destroyed if certain conditions are met, including a Democrat winning the 2028 presidential election, Bitcoin reaching a record high or LAPTOP’s fully diluted valuation surpassing TRUMP’s.

The launch follows Biden’s recent embrace of blockchain alongside criticism of the Trump family’s crypto ventures. It also puts another political name behind a memecoin as Washington continues debating rules governing the broader digital asset market.

Citi, DBS complete first weekend tokenized cross-border deposit on Swift

Singapore-based financial services group DBS and American financial services giant Citi completed the first weekend tokenized cross-border payment between Singapore and the US on Saturday.

The two companies executed the transaction using tokenized deposits via the Swift Digital Ledger to bypass the constraints of traditional banking hours, DBS announced on Monday.

The deposit was finalized in minutes, which DBS called a “significant improvement” from the industry norm of as long as two business days for traditional cross-border transfers.

The transaction demonstrates how traditional banks are exploring blockchain rails for more efficient cross-border transactions while aiming to keep deposits inside banking channels. Standard Chartered and HSBC were the first to complete a tokenized cross-border transaction on Swift’s blockchain ledger in August.

In July, Swift, the world’s largest financial messaging network, said that its blockchain-based ledger was ready for initial use and that it was preparing to pilot tokenized cross-border payments with 17 major banks, including Citi and DBS, as well as HSBC, BNP Paribas, UBS, ANZ and Standard Chartered.