Bitget Sees $463 Million in Outflows Following $388 Million Hack

Bitget reported a substantial $463 million in net outflows following the year's most significant cryptocurrency hack, disclosing the surge on Tuesday (Sept. 29), according to Bloomberg News. The outflows occurred as the exchange began restoring withdrawals, marking the largest single-day withdrawal since DefiLlama started monitoring proof-of-reserves four years ago.

Bitget disclosed in late August that its assets totaled approximately $387.5 million stolen in the attack. The company reported that its security systems detected unauthorized transfers in a limited number of hot wallets, activated emergency response procedures, and initiated a full investigation. Following the security review, Bitget resumed withdrawals in stages, starting with Bitcoin, followed by Ether and USDT stablecoin.

Withdrawals of other tokens and fiat services are now expected to resume on October 2. This phased rollout was a precautionary measure unrelated to the availability or sufficiency of user assets. The outflows represent over 10% of the company's reserves. A user protection fund established by Bitget to assure customers of the safety of their funds has dwindled below $200 million, as reported by Bloomberg.

The fund, initially set aside to address the incident, is being utilized to mitigate the financial impact of the hack. Bitget CEO Gracy Chen explained that the fund would be replenished using the company's own capital, aiming to exceed $300 million within a week. Recent research by CoinGecko revealed that hacks and thefts have cost cryptocurrency platforms over $3.6 billion in the past 18 months, with the majority of incidents resulting from cyberattacks and compromised passkeys.

Despite conducting security audits, a significant proportion of these attacks occurred in areas not typically scrutinized by these checks. Bitget's breach surpasses most recorded incidents, with the exception of Bybit's $1.4 billion theft in February 2022.