THORChain Faces Backlash Over Stolen Bitget Funds Routed Through Swaps

Bitget's live tracker lists 2,377 attacker addresses, and 1,497 of them are marked as having moved funds through THORChain swaps so far. THORChain is facing a fresh dispute over its handling of stolen funds after Bitget and security researchers publicly asked the network to block addresses linked to the September 24 exploit. The argument has widened into a fight over whether a permissionless protocol can refuse known stolen assets without compromising the censorship resistance it claims to provide. Bitget Asks THORChain to Block Attacker Addresses Bitget confirmed on September 25 that $387.5 million went to attacker addresses, up from the initial $351.6 million after Zcash and Tron assets were added. The exchange disclosed the breach on September 24 and blamed a backend system in its wallet setup, not a stolen private key. CEO Gracy Chen formally asked THORChain on September 26 to refuse service to those addresses. “Decentralization is a design principle, not a shield for facilitating known stolen funds,” she said, adding that “the industry is watching.” The request followed reports that funds from the Bitget exploit were being sent through the protocol for cross-chain swaps. MistT...