Chainalysis Ties $387M Bitget Breach to North Korea
Blockchain intelligence firm Chainalysis has attributed a massive breach of crypto exchange Bitget to hackers tied to North Korea. The breach occurred on September 24, and Chainalysis estimates that the hackers drained around $387 million from Bitget's hot wallet and moved it across four separate blockchains within the first three hours.
The firm used custom-built artificial intelligence tools to trace the funds, which were moved in 23 separate transfers. The stolen funds were split across four networks: Ethereum absorbed 49.7%, the XRP Ledger took 40.8%, Zcash received 7.6%, and Tron accounted for the remaining 1.8%.
Chainalysis said its analysts matched deposits with corresponding payouts across the protocols, following tens of millions of dollars over roughly 36 hours before the trail terminated at Bitcoin addresses now controlled by the attackers and placed under active monitoring.
The attribution aligns with earlier assessments from multiple parties, including Bitget CEO Gracy Chen, who said the attack's patterns matched those of North Korean hackers.