Liquid Network Hacker Still Holds 598.5 BTC, L-BTC-to-Bitcoin Conversion Suspended for 11 Days

The Liquid Network attacker has returned 3,400 bitcoins since the September 6 vulnerability exploit, accounting for approximately 85% of the transferred assets, and currently still holds 598.5 bitcoins valued at over $45 million. Blockstream, the digital asset infrastructure company responsible for maintaining Liquid Network, has refused to pay a ransom for the remaining assets and demands the return of the relevant bitcoins. The network shows 4,234.76 L-BTC in circulation, with bitcoin reserves of only 3,632.23. The L-BTC-to-bitcoin conversion function remains unrecovered, with Sideswap stating that redemptions are currently unavailable. Blockstream founder Adam Back stated that L-BTC will be backed by bitcoin reserves at a 1:1 ratio and reminded holders not to sell L-BTC at a discount over-the-counter. As of now, Blockstream has not issued an announcement that "conversion is live." The attacker's wallet continues to receive on-chain messages and has been subjected to address poisoning attacks and scam messages, with related attacks inducing transfers by generating visually similar addresses.