Bitget pauses withdrawals after up to $352m breach

Crypto exchange Bitget disclosed that unauthorized transfers totaling approximately $351.6 million from some of its hot wallets have occurred, leading the company to temporarily halt withdrawals as it investigates the security breach. The security team at Bitget detected the transfers at 18:31 UTC on Thursday, triggering their emergency response protocols.

Subsequently, Bitget confirmed that the breach was limited to certain hot and warm wallet layers, while its cold wallet layers remained unaffected and secure. The exchange explicitly stated that their own ecosystem tokens were not the target of the incident. Despite the ongoing investigation, Bitget assures customers that their account balances are accurate, with deposits and trading operations continuing uninterrupted.

Withdrawals have been paused as a precautionary measure until the security review is concluded. Bitget's CEO, Gracy Chen, assured that the entire amount of affected assets is covered by the exchange's User Protection Fund, which holds over $464 million, as per the company's security notice. The breach has been reported to relevant law enforcement agencies and on-chain security firms, though the method by which the wallets were compromised remains undisclosed.

Bitget emphasized it would refrain from speculating on the attack vector while the investigation is ongoing and pledged to release a comprehensive incident report, including a root-cause analysis and corrective actions, within 24 hours. The incident has also impacted Bitget's on-chain trading service, which was temporarily unavailable on Friday as the broader security review continued.

Early estimates of the affected funds by blockchain analysis were lower, but Bitget's assessment now stands at about $351.6 million. CoinDesk reported that the incident was initially detected through unusual on-chain activity involving wallets linked to the exchange.