Bitget Hit by $351M Security Breach, User Funds Safe

The Bitget crypto exchange was hit by a massive security breach on September 24, resulting in an estimated loss of $351.6 million. The attack was first detected at 18:31 UTC and quickly escalated as millions of dollars worth of assets were transferred out of the exchange's hot wallets.

The compromised funds include XRP, Ethereum, stablecoins, tokenized gold, and other cryptocurrencies. Gracy Chen, Bitget's CEO, confirmed that private keys were not stolen but rather a critical backend component was compromised, allowing attackers to forge or spoof transaction data.

Bidget's User Protection Fund, valued at over $464 million, is said to cover the entire loss. Chen reassured users that their balances remain intact and cold wallets remained untouched during the breach.

The incident has sparked speculation about the identity of the attackers, with some reports suggesting a possible link to North Korea's Lazarus Group. However, no concrete evidence has been provided, and investigators are still working to establish the root cause of the attack.