Bitget Reports $351.6 Million Crypto Theft

Cryptocurrency exchange Bitget says suspected North Korean hackers stole about $351.6 million from its hot and warm wallets. The company said it found the breach Thursday evening after security systems flagged unauthorized transfers from a limited number of wallets.

Bitget suspended withdrawals while it investigates with law enforcement, on-chain security organizations, and cybersecurity firms Mandiant and SlowMist. The company said deposits and trading continue normally, customer balances remain accurate, and its self-custodial Bitget Wallet was not affected.

Bitget said its User Protection Fund, which it reported holds more than $464 million, will cover the losses. The company has not disclosed how attackers accessed a backend wallet-service system to falsify transfer data and trigger authorization. CEO Gracy Chen said the incident involved the Ethereum, XRP Ledger, Arbitrum, Avalanche, Optimism, BSC, and Base networks, and affected ETH, XRP, BNB, AVAX, USDT, USDC, and other tokens. Chen said XRP had the largest single-chain loss and that some networks had frozen hacker addresses.

Bitget linked the attack to North Korean hackers based on IP behavior patterns and on-chain analysis, while saying the investigation into the intrusion method remains ongoing. It said withdrawals will resume after investigators confirm it is safe to restore normal operations.