Blockstream Says It Won’t Pay Ransom for Bitcoin Stolen From Liquid Network, Calls It Theft

Blockstream, a Bitcoin infrastructure company, said it will not pay to recover Bitcoin stolen from the Liquid Network.

On September 11, the company said on its official X account, formerly Twitter, that it would not pay a ransom for the return of funds taken from the Liquid Network. Taking assets without permission and refusing to return them is theft, not responsible vulnerability disclosure or white-hat activity, it wrote.

About 4,000 Bitcoin were stolen from the Liquid Network in an attack on September 6 that exploited a security vulnerability. The attacker later returned about 3,400 Bitcoin, but has withheld roughly 600 Bitcoin, describing it as compensation for discovering the flaw.

Blockstream said such conduct cannot be regarded as legitimate white-hat activity. It said it cannot set a precedent in which open-source software developers are forced to pay a ransom far exceeding their economic interests. The company added that its discussions to recover the funds did not mean it had accepted the attacker’s demands.

It also urged the attacker to return the remaining Bitcoin voluntarily. The company said there was still an opportunity to resolve the issue responsibly. If the funds are not returned, Blockstream said it will work with law enforcement agencies, digital-asset exchanges, service providers and forensic experts to trace the assets and identify those involved.

Blockstream added that Bitcoin transactions do not disappear, nor does the evidence they leave behind. It said it will not pay to recover the stolen assets and will not abandon its users.