Blockstream says sued services unit left its control in mid-2024
River Financial is seeking $6.7m from Blockstream Services Canada ULC, but Blockstream Corp says the unit has been independent since mid-2024 and only licensed the name.
Key points
- River Financial filed its complaint in the Northern District of California on Sept. 11, seeking about $6.7 million.
- The claim alleges breach of a termination agreement covering $3.55 million in prepaid refunds and a $3.15 million early-termination payment.
- Blockstream Corp said on Sept. 26 that its U.S. and Canada services units left its ownership, control and management in mid-2024.
- The public spin-out of Blockstream Mining was announced in April 2025, with former mining president Chris Cook as CEO.
- The statement followed the Sept. 6 Liquid Network breach, in which nearly 4,000 BTC was taken and roughly 600 BTC remains unrecovered.
River Financial has sued Blockstream Services Canada ULC for about $6.7 million over a cancelled contract, according to court filings reported by Bitcoin.com News. The complaint was filed in the Northern District of California on Sept. 11 and alleges breach of a termination agreement. River says the deal provided for $3.55 million in prepaid refunds and a $3.15 million early-termination payment.
Early headlines shared on social media named Blockstream itself as the defendant, and some crypto outlets later corrected that account. The company named in the complaint is Blockstream Services Canada ULC, a mining operator that now runs as an independent business. Bitcoin.com News had reported on the mining company spin-off in May 2025.
On Sept. 26, Blockstream Corp, led by Adam Back, posted a statement saying the U.S. and Canada services firms have not been under its ownership, control or management since mid-2024. It said the businesses were spun out with Blockstream Mining and now operate as separate companies with no shared equity ownership or management. After the separation, they kept the Blockstream name for a limited period under a brand licensing agreement, the company said.
River files $6.7m claim
The statement drew a caveat from observers: the mid-2024 date sits almost a year before the April 2025 announcements that introduced Blockstream Mining as a newly independent company, with former mining president Chris Cook as chief executive. The Blockstream Mining brand stayed on the door. Some community members criticised the arrangement, with one writing that licensing the name to other companies for money carries a downside, and another asking why the clarification came so late.
Blockstream did not explain why the mining firm retained its licensed name, or why it clarified the arrangement only after online reports said Blockstream itself had been sued. If the separation happened when the parent says it did, questions remain about how many counterparties kept writing cheques under the Blockstream name after the two businesses parted ways. Some observers thanked the company for putting its position on the record.
The dispute follows the Sept. 6 breach of the Liquid Network, in which nearly 4,000 BTC was siphoned from the protocol. Attackers returned 3,400 BTC but have not returned close to 600 BTC despite Blockstream's demands. Four days before the statement, the company published a technical security assessment of the incident, setting out the failure, the response timeline and corrective measures such as stricter remediation standards, regular code reviews, adversarial testing and an expanded bug bounty programme.
Blockstream issues clarification
That report offers no timetable for restoring L-BTC to BTC peg-outs. The lawsuit and the security incident together put attention on how the Blockstream name is used across separate entities, and on what counterparties understood about who controlled the mining services business.