Bitget Says $351.6 Million Was Drained, Temporarily Suspends Withdrawals

Global cryptocurrency exchange Bitget said $351.6 million was drained in a security incident that affected some hot wallets and warm wallets. The exchange has temporarily suspended withdrawals.

Bitget said in an official post on X on Sept. 24 that its security system detected unauthorized fund movements from some hot wallets at 6:31 p.m. UTC. It said it activated emergency response procedures immediately after the incident and launched a full investigation into the affected wallets and fund flows.

Based on its current assessment, Bitget said about $351.6 million in assets was affected. The exchange said the breach was limited to some hot wallets and warm wallets, while cold wallets and most assets held on the platform were not affected.

Chief Executive Officer Gracy Chen wrote on X that Bitget's cold wallets remain fully secure and that the breach was confined to part of its hot-wallet and warm-wallet layers. User funds are safe, she said, and the full loss is covered by Bitget's user protection fund, which currently exceeds $464 million.

Bitget said user account balances remain intact. Deposits and trading continue to operate normally, while withdrawals have been temporarily suspended for additional security checks.

The exchange said it has identified the addresses linked to the abnormal fund movements and designated them for tracking. It also shared details of the incident with law enforcement agencies and major on-chain security firms. Bitget said it will resume withdrawals once the security review is completed.

Earlier on-chain data showed that more than $170 million in assets, including Ether, Tether's USDT, Circle's dollar-backed stablecoin USDC, Avalanche and BNB, had been moved from Bitget wallets to a single address. The address was not identified as a Bitget-owned wallet, and some of the incoming assets appeared to have been swapped into Ether on-chain.

Chen wrote that the company would not shy away from the issue and would disclose all fund movements and decision-making processes transparently. Bitget said it would refrain from speculating about the specific attack vector while the investigation is ongoing and plans to release a full report on the cause of the incident and follow-up measures within 24 hours.