Bitget Demands THORChain Block Stolen Funds After $387M Hack

Bitget's CEO Gracy Chen has publicly pressed THORChain to stop processing funds tied to last week's exchange breach. The breach, which occurred on September 24, resulted in a loss of approximately $387.5 million across several chains, with a large XRP position among the biggest pieces.

The attackers compromised Bitget's backend system, forged transaction data, and tricked the company's own approval flow into signing transfers that looked ordinary. Chen has stated that IP patterns and on-chain behavior resemble prior operations linked to North Korean groups, although formal attribution remains with investigators.

Bitget froze withdrawals and established a protection fund of over $464 million to cover customer balances. The company also began working with law enforcement and forensic firms to investigate the breach.

In response to Chen's request, THORChain expressed regret but emphasized that it is permissionless in the same sense as Bitcoin, Ethereum, or BNB Chain. This contrast highlights a deeper issue, as centralized venues can pause withdrawals, tap insurance or reserves, and lobby issuers to freeze tokens, while decentralized venues usually cannot reverse a signed swap without breaking their own rules.