Blockstream announced that it would not pay the ransom demanded for the return of BTC stolen from the Liquid Network. Blockstream emphasized, "Stealing assets without permission and refusing to return them is a crime, not a white-hat activity," adding, "We will not set a precedent where open-source software developers pay excessive ransoms to retrieve stolen assets." It further stated, "If the stolen BTC is not returned, we will employ all legal means, cooperating with law enforcement agencies, exchanges, and forensic experts, to track and recover the assets and identify those responsible." Previously, the Liquid Network hacker returned only 3,400 BTC of the stolen amount, refusing to return the rest, claiming it was a white-hat reward.
