$352m Hack Hits Leading Crypto Exchange Bitget
Bitget, one of the leading centralised crypto exchanges globally, has reported an estimated $351.6 million in unauthorised transfers from some of its wallets.
The company temporarily suspended withdrawals and assured users that their funds are safe, citing the coverage of Bitget's User Protection Fund which currently holds over $464 million.
The hack is being seen as one of the most substantive centralised exchange exploits of 2026 and a 'crisis event' due to the scale of the drain at around three quarters of the exchange's User Protection Fund, said Esme Pau, head of capital markets and policy at blockchain security firm CertiK.
Bitget operates a three-tier wallet architecture with hot-wallets staying online for frequent transactions, cold wallets remaining offline for maximum security, and warm-wallets sitting in between. Chen said the breach was confined to portions of hot-wallet and warm-wallet layers, with cold wallets remaining secure.