Liquid Hackers Demand 10% Bounty From Blockstream

A party claiming responsibility for a September 6 withdrawal from the Liquid Network is reportedly demanding a 10% bounty from Blockstream, paid out of Blockstream’s own funds, according to a September 10, 2026 report from CryptoPotato. The full underlying demand has not been independently authenticated, and no agreed payout is established.

Liquid hackers’ reported 10% bounty demand

The central claim is narrow but pointed. Per CryptoPotato, the group behind the withdrawal wants a 10% bounty paid from Blockstream’s treasury, and threatened a 15% loss to Liquid users if the demand is not met. That threat is a reported warning, not a realized loss. For related coverage, see Flávio Bolsonaro overtakes Lula on Polymarket.

Reported bounty demand

10%

What the 10% refers to is not specified. No calculation base, dollar figure, or payment terms were provided, and the demanded sum cannot be derived from the stolen or retained Bitcoin totals. Treat “bounty” as the reporting’s terminology, not evidence of a formal bug-bounty agreement. For related coverage, see Bitwise Shuts Down Dogecoin ETF Within a Year of Launch.

The reported incident figures are approximate. CryptoPotato says roughly 4,000 BTC, valued at around $320 million at the time, was taken from Liquid’s Federation wallet on September 6, with 3,400 BTC subsequently returned and the balance still outstanding. No transaction-level reconciliation was obtained, and the 3,400-plus-remainder should not be read as an exact match to the 4,000 figure. For related coverage, see Valinor Digital Launches Tokenized BDC Fund on Superstate.

BTC reportedly still held

Roughly 598 BTC

The group describes itself as white-hat and says it will return the remaining coins, according to unconfirmed reports of its stated intent. It also alleged Blockstream spent as little as $1.5 million, or possibly nothing, securing the network, a claim no budget or audit has confirmed.

What remains unverified about Liquid and Blockstream

Liquid’s own operational notice offers the firmest ground. The official Liquid blog states that issued-asset transfers have resumed while LBTC transfers and peg-out operations remain paused. The same banner appears on Liquid’s homepage, which labels total value locked at $5 billion, a figure that includes issued assets and is not a measure of BTC bridge reserves or funds exposed.

Blockstream’s response is a gap, not a silence. No official Blockstream statement was obtained in the available reporting, and missing context should not be read as public silence or as confirmation that Blockstream owns or operates the affected wallet. The named-recipient framing of the demand does not by itself establish that relationship.

Bitcoin traded at $76,922, down about 1.5% on the day, at the snapshot time; no causal link between the incident and that move is established. Broad market mood was mildly risk-on, with the crypto Fear & Greed reading at 56, or “Greed,” a market-wide gauge that does not measure sentiment toward Liquid specifically. The dispute lands as traders also track shifting spot ETF flows and a busy options expiry calendar.

Blockstream co-founder Samson Mow has weighed in publicly. Per CryptoPotato, @Excellion noted that publicly admitting to taking BTC and demanding a bounty could carry consequences, and that returning funds would not necessarily let the group walk away.

文字一旦落笔，就覆水难收，再也抹不掉了。字里行间留下的痕迹，时至今日，早已无需多言。古话说：贪得无厌、傲慢自大之人，往往都栽在自己的小聪明上。… https://t.co/YnQExK55pe

— Samson Mow (@Excellion) September 10, 2026

Source: @Excellion on X

What would clarify the reported bounty demand

Several pieces of evidence would move this story from partial to confirmed. Chief among them: an authenticated original demand and a sourced account of the alleged incident, neither of which is currently available beyond secondary reporting.

Verification of the 10% figure’s calculation base, the requested terms, and any official Blockstream response would be needed before those details can be stated as fact. Any payment, negotiation, asset recovery, or resolution should be treated as unknown unless later confirmed by verified reporting. An incident-specific technical postmortem, exploit mechanism, or wallet-level reconciliation would similarly close the remaining gaps.

For now, the confirmed status is operational: issued-asset transfers are running again, while LBTC transfers and peg-outs stay paused pending further updates from Liquid.

Disclaimer: This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute financial or investment advice. Cryptocurrency and digital asset markets carry significant risk. Always do your own research before making decisions.