Blockstream rejects Liquid hacker’s $50 million Bitcoin bounty demand

Blockstream has declined to pay the Liquid attacker nearly 600 BTC, worth roughly $50 million, intensifying a dispute over whether partial recovery of stolen funds should qualify for a substantial bounty. The confrontation follows the Sept. 6 exploit of a vulnerability in the Liquid network. According to CryptoSlate, the attacker used the flaw to create about 4,000 unbacked L-BTC and withdraw approximately 3,996 real BTC. The attacker later sought a payment of nearly 600 BTC in connection with the recovery of funds. Blockstream’s refusal leaves the parties at odds over how the crypto industry should compensate an attacker who returns part of the assets involved in an exploit. The episode places attention on the handling of large-scale crypto incidents and the incentives offered during efforts to recover funds.