Liquid Network Bitcoin Bridge Still Down as Attacker Holds Nearly 600 BTC

Blockstream's Liquid Network, a Bitcoin sidechain, has had its main conversion route between L-BTC and native Bitcoin suspended for 11 consecutive days following an exploit of a vulnerability that reportedly put around $400 million at risk. After a patch was deployed, roughly 3,400 BTC was returned, but reports indicate the attacker still controls approximately 598.5 BTC.

Blockstream has reportedly declined to pay a ransom demand tied to the incident, a stance similar to that taken by other protocol operators in past exploits, such as the Wormhole Network breach, where stolen funds also remained under attacker control for a long period. It should be noted that key figures in this case, including the remaining balance and the recovery amount, have been reported by industry outlets but not yet independently verified through on-chain records or an official Blockstream statement.

No confirmed timeline for restoring the conversion channel has been provided, and the exact cause of the ongoing suspension beyond its link to the exploit remains unconfirmed. Businesses using Liquid Network services for Bitcoin transactions should be aware that fund conversion is currently unavailable and monitor official Blockstream channels for updates.