Bitget confirms $351.6M hot-wallet breach, halts withdrawals
Security & Exploits ·
The exchange says attackers already converted most stolen funds into roughly 67,982 ETH worth about $183M, and withdrawals remain suspended pending review.
Bitget disclosed that a hot-wallet breach affected approximately $351.6M in assets, a figure that is roughly double the initial on-chain estimates tracked by outside observers, Bloomberg reported. The exchange suspended withdrawals while it reviews the incident, and it has said it will draw on its 5,500 BTC Protection Fund to cover losses tied to the breach, according to CryptoPotato, which noted the exchange maintains user funds are covered.
The mechanics of the attack show the perpetrators moving quickly to obscure the trail: most of the proceeds taken across EVM chains have already been swapped into roughly 67,982 ETH, valued at about $183M. That conversion matters because it shifts the stolen assets into a single, more liquid holding, which can complicate tracing efforts while also introducing incremental sell pressure into ETH markets if the funds are eventually moved or liquidated.
Separately, Tether has frozen a wallet tied to the breach, an action that intersects with roughly $350M in reported losses from the incident. A dedicated stolen-funds tracker has been published to follow the movement of the assets, an effort consistent with the kind of on-chain monitoring compiled by outlets such as leviathan.news.
The breach lands amid a broader week of crypto industry news, including a BlackRock-Ondo tokenized ETF launch, an SEC commissioner's push for zero-knowledge proofs as an alternative to KYC, a lawsuit against Polymarket in New York, tightened self-custody reporting rules in Brazil, a leadership departure at Bridge from Stripe, and a lawsuit filed by KelpDAO against LayerZero. Separate weekly coverage also flagged an ECB blockchain settlement launch, Binance's expansion into stock trading and a USDC partnership, and Coinbase opening IPO access to retail investors.
What remains unresolved is the root cause of the hot-wallet compromise, the extent to which Bitget's Protection Fund will fully offset user losses, and whether the frozen Tether wallet will lead to recovery of any of the roughly $350M in reported losses. The disposition of the converted ETH holdings, and whether additional funds will be traced or frozen, is also still being tracked by researchers following the incident.