Blockstream has officially refused to pay a ransom to hackers who currently hold approximately 598 BTC. The company stated that it will not meet the attackers' demands for a 10% bounty, emphasizing that the unauthorized withholding of funds constitutes theft rather than white-hat activity.
The incident began on September 6, when hackers withdrew 4,000 BTC from the Liquid Network federation wallet. Following emergency software patches, the attackers returned 3,400 BTC. However, they threatened that the remaining funds would be lost unless their ransom demands were met.
Blockstream has confirmed that it is collaborating with law enforcement, forensic specialists, and cryptocurrency exchanges to track the stolen assets and identify the perpetrators. The company continues to urge the hackers to return the remaining Bitcoin voluntarily.
The Liquid Network resumed block production on Thursday after implementing emergency updates. Despite this, the platform has kept transactions and Bitcoin transfers into and out of the network suspended while the situation remains unresolved.
