Bitget ‘gradually back to usual’ as protection fund reaches $309M
Bitget CEO Gracy Chen said that a protection fund created by the company in 2022 “absorbed the financial impact of the incident“ that resulted in $388 million in user losses.
In the aftermath of a security breach at cryptocurrency exchange Bitget, the company's CEO, Gracy Chen, announced a gradual return to normal operations. The incident resulted in the loss of $388 million in user funds, but the firm's 'Protection Fund,' initially established with 5,500 BTC back in January 2022, has reached $309 million.
This fund was designed to absorb the financial impact of such incidents, not resulting from user misconduct or platform errors. Bitget CEO Gracy Chen confirmed that withdrawals for all tokens would resume on Friday, with access to users' Bitcoin (BTC), Ether (ETH), and USDt (USDT) already restored. The Protection Fund was prepared for immediate deployment whenever necessary.
Despite the incident, Bitget has not ruled out certain parties being responsible, including the possibility of an inside job or involvement of North Korean hackers. The company launched a bounty program offering 5% of frozen funds and 5% for any recovered funds in response to the attack. Blockchain investigator ZachXBT reported that wallets connected to the Bitget hack transferred approximately $3.8 million worth of Zcash (ZEC) into the network's Ironwood pool, representing about 14% of the 18,917 ZEC stolen in the attack.
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