Hackers involved in the Liquid network theft have returned approximately 3,400 Bitcoin, representing around 85% of the stolen assets, to a Federation wallet following on-chain negotiations with Blockstream.
The return of the funds marks a significant recovery of the assets involved in the incident, substantially reducing the amount of Bitcoin still under the attackers’ control. According to the reported figures, the hackers retained approximately 598 BTC, valued at around $47 million.
The retained Bitcoin appears to represent a potential bounty or compensation for returning the majority of the stolen funds. However, the available information does not establish further details regarding the terms of such an arrangement.
From a market and infrastructure perspective, the development highlights how on-chain communication and direct negotiation can become part of the recovery process following major digital-asset security incidents. Recovering roughly 85% of the stolen Bitcoin significantly limits the scale of the unrecovered losses.
The key factor to watch next is whether the remaining 598 BTC will stay with the attackers as part of a negotiated bounty or whether further efforts will be made to recover the remaining funds.
