North Korea Likely Behind Bitget's $351.6 Million Cryptocurrency Heist
A major cryptocurrency theft has been reported at Bitget, a crypto exchange that claims to have lost $351.6 million in assets. According to blockchain intelligence group TRM Labs, this is likely a North Korean attack.
The incident occurred on September 24th, when attackers moved funds from Bitget's hot and warm wallets across seven blockchains, including Ethereum, XRP Ledger, and BNB Chain. The exchange detected the unauthorized transfers at 18:31 UTC and subsequently paused withdrawals.
Bitget chief executive Gracy Chen stated that the attacker gained access to a backend system connected to the exchange's wallet infrastructure, manipulating transaction information presented to authorization processes. This allowed the transfers to be approved even though underlying transaction data had been altered.
The majority of customer assets are stored in Bitget's cold wallets, which were unaffected by the incident. The lost funds will reportedly be covered by the exchange's $464 million User Protection Fund.