Liquid Network attacker returns most of the stolen Bitcoin

[theguywhoisnice]

The recent Liquid Network exploit has taken an interesting turn.

Around 4,000 BTC was withdrawn from Liquid’s federation reserves. After the vulnerability was patched, around 3,400 BTC was returned, while approximately 598.5 BTC remained with the attackers.

What I find interesting is that the recovery can be independently checked on the Bitcoin blockchain.

The 3,400 BTC return was included in Bitcoin block 965,950.

Blockchain evidence:
Transaction:
https://mempool.space/tx/a6d697a25266ce3c78774fd1d75f896b7af522ada209b0f6228ea497bc49a46d
Bitcoin block 965,950:

Block:
[url=https://blockchair.com/bitcoin/block/965950]https://blockchair.com/bitcoin/block/965950

It’s a pretty good example of how Bitcoin transactions remain publicly verifiable even when the people behind them aren’t known.

What do you think - did the attackers return the BTC because they realized it would be difficult to move without being traced?

[Emjay24]

There's is an ongoing discussion on this topic here https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5593374.0, try using the search button when you intend creating a new topic to ensure it isn't a duplicate. I would advise you to lock your topic and post this as a reply in the above mentioned thread.

[Danica22]

There isn't just one, there are several threads on this topic.

OP, you should lock this thread and post it in one of the threads that are already active.

https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5594005.0
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5593374.0