Bitget Rebuilds Protection Fund After $388 Million Hack

A recent hack on cryptocurrency exchange Bitget resulted in the theft of approximately $388 million worth of digital assets, including Bitcoin, Ethereum, and USDT. The incident occurred on September 24, 2026, and was a major blow to the exchange's Protection Fund, which initially dropped below $200 million after absorbing the losses.

However, Bitget's management team worked quickly to rebuild the fund, which was replenished to $309 million by September 30. This amount represents approximately 131% coverage of the exchange's customer balances, with 142% coverage for Bitcoin and 110% for Ethereum.

The hackers exploited vulnerabilities in third-party software and stole internal login credentials to drain the exchange's hot and warm wallets. However, the cold wallets remained secure, and the Protection Fund was sufficient to cover all customer losses without passing the costs onto users.

Investigations into the hack are ongoing, but it appears that the stolen funds may not be recovered. The launderers used THORChain and Zcash's privacy pool to obscure hundreds of millions of dollars across blockchains, making it difficult for investigators to track the stolen coins.