Blockstream Refuses to Pay Ransom for $47M in Stolen Bitcoin

Blockstream has rejected paying a ransom to recover $47 million in Bitcoin stolen from the Liquid Network, calling it 'theft' rather than a responsible disclosure.

The attack occurred on Sunday, with hackers siphoning off around 4,000 BTC ($77,282.00 · Live) valued at approximately $320 million.

However, they returned 3,400 BTC the following Monday, leaving behind 598.5 BTC in an untouched address.

Blockstream attributed the breach to a failure in the way nodes on the Liquid Network store proof-of-reach verifications, allowing hackers to mint L-BTC without collateral and exchange it for reserve Bitcoin through SideSwap, a federation member with authorization to withdraw funds.