Bitget CEO Urges THORChain to Refuse Service in Hacker Laundering Attempt

Digital-asset exchange Bitget, which was recently hit by a major hack, has called on THORChain not to facilitate the attacker’s movement of funds.

On Sept. 26, Chief Executive Officer Gracy Chen wrote on X, formerly Twitter, that the attacker’s address had already been made public and was being actively tracked. She said Bitget had formally asked THORChain to deny service to that address.

"Decentralization is a design principle, not a shield for facilitating the movement of known stolen funds," Chen wrote. "The industry is watching."

Chen also said that after the $1.46 billion Bybit hack last year, about $1.2 billion in stolen funds was known to have passed through THORChain as the attackers moved assets across chains. She added that Bitget was once again seeing attacker funds flow into THORChain for asset swaps and cross-chain transfers following the latest security incident.

She said THORChain's actions could have broader negative implications for the industry if it continues to assist hackers despite being aware of these circumstances. If a protocol keeps supporting large cross-chain swaps while knowing the funds were publicly identified as proceeds from major hacks, the industry should ask whether that can still be described simply as decentralization, Chen wrote. She added that the industry needs a serious discussion about what responsibility THORChain should bear when handling known stolen funds.