Bitget Hack Exposes Centralized Control of Stablecoin Issuers

The cryptocurrency industry was shaken when Bitget got hacked in September 2026, resulting in the loss of $351 million. Within hours, Circle and Tether froze the hacker's wallet, blacklisting the addresses and freezing $318,000 in USDT and USDC.

This event highlights a crucial aspect of stablecoins: they are not decentralized assets. They are IOUs issued by private companies, with built-in central control. The most widely used stablecoin issuers, Tether and Circle, maintain blacklists of wallet addresses that cannot send or receive their tokens.

The freeze capability is required by regulators to prevent illegal activity, sanctions violations, or court orders. This means the most successful crypto assets by adoption are also the most centralized by design.