Bitget Reports $351M Hot Wallet Breach, Says User Funds Are Covered

Cold wallets, which hold most of Bitget's assets, were never touched at all, the exchange says, even as hot and warm layers took the hit. Bitget says its security systems flagged unauthorized transfers from a portion of its hot wallets at 18:31 UTC on September 24, with roughly $351.6 million in assets affected. The exchange says every dollar of that loss falls under its User Protection Fund, so customers’ balances will stay intact even with withdrawals paused as it reviews the incident. What Bitget Says Happened According to CEO Gracy Chen, Bitget runs a three-tier wallet system, and the breach touched a slice of the hot and warm wallet layers. Cold wallets, which hold the bulk of the exchange’s assets, were not affected, and the security team’s emergency protocols kicked in within minutes of the detection, flagging and reporting the addresses tied to the abnormal transfers. The exchange’s User Protection Fund currently holds more than $464 million, well above the $351.6 million shortfall, and Bitget plans to use it to cover the full loss. “We will not run from this, and every dollar will be accounted for,” Chen wrote in an update posted on X. She added that a full incident report...