Liquid Hackers Offer to Return Most of 4,000 BTC After Blockstream Fixes Vulnerability
Nearly 4,000 BTC was taken from Liquid Network's federation wallet on September 6, representing about 95% of its reported Bitcoin reserves. The unidentified actors controlling the funds have offered to return 'most' of them after Blockstream fixes the network vulnerability behind the estimated $320 million incident.
The actors communicated their offer through Bitcoin transactions carrying OP_RETURN messages and PGP signatures, which created a publicly verifiable communication channel between both parties. They asked whether returning 'most' of the Bitcoin to the federation's address would be acceptable.
Blockstream initiated contact at Bitcoin block 965,822 by sending 1,000 satoshis with a message directing the recipient to its security team. Another transaction contained encrypted material and a detached signature verifiable against Blockstream's published PGP key.
The actors did not define how much 'most' represents, disclose their identities or provide a deadline. No confirmed return transaction had appeared when this article was prepared. A return can only be treated as confirmed after the Bitcoin moves to an address controlled by the federation.