Bitget Users Pull $463 Million As Withdrawals Restart After Hack

The money moved fast

Bitget users pulled around $463 million net over a single day into Tuesday, a rush that kicked in as the exchange reopened withdrawals after last week's $388 million theft. DefiLlama data pegs it as the largest one-day net outflow since the tracker started following proof-of-reserves four years ago. Bitget, one of the top 10 exchanges by trading volume, lists about $5.7 billion in reserves, so Tuesday's withdrawals were more than a tenth of its current stash.

How withdrawals are coming back online

The exchange is switching withdrawals back on in phases: Bitcoin went live Monday, followed by Ether and USDT. According to a company post, transfers for additional tokens as well as fiat and P2P services are scheduled to restart on Oct. 2. Bitget says the staggered approach is a security step and not related to whether customer assets are available or adequate.

What broke, what's being fixed

Bitget previously pointed to a $464 million user Protection Fund held across three wallet addresses to reassure customers. Those addresses now show the fund has dipped below $200 million. "The Protection Fund is being used to absorb the financial impact of the incident," Chief Executive Officer Gracy Chen said by email, adding, "Bitget will replenish the Fund using its own capital, with the Fund targeted to be above $300 million within one week."

Chen said she woke around 2:30 a.m. in Singapore around the time of the breach and "immediately got involved with the team." Investigators believe the attacker exploited a flaw in a third-party security product to grab internal credentials, then used them to issue fake withdrawal commands that slipped past existing risk checks and triggered abnormal transfers. The compromise hit parts of the hot and warm wallet setup; after reviewing the incident, Chen said private keys and cold storage were not affected.

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As the investigation proceeds, the exchange has engaged Google's Mandiant alongside blockchain-security firm SlowMist. While Chen has noted early signs pointing to North Korean involvement, she urged caution: "What I shared previously was based on preliminary indicators identified during the investigation," she said. "Those indicators are still being assessed and should not be treated as a definitive attribution."

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