Bitget CEO Skeptical on Recovering $388M Lost in Security Breach
Vexoda Newsroom
Bitget's CEO, Gracy Chen, expressed low confidence in recovering the full $388 million lost in a recent security breach, citing historical precedents from other major exchange hacks.
Cryptocurrency exchange Bitget has suffered a significant security breach, resulting in the loss of approximately $388 million in digital assets. The exchange temporarily suspended withdrawals following the incident to investigate the extent of the compromise and assess the security of its systems. This event marks one of the most substantial exploits in the crypto space in recent times, raising concerns about the security infrastructure of major trading platforms.
The total value of lost assets was initially reported as $352 million but was later revised to $388 million after a more comprehensive accounting of the compromised transactions. Bitget's CEO, Gracy Chen, has indicated that the exchange is offering a bounty program, providing a 5% reward for any recovered funds and an additional 5% for frozen assets, in an effort to incentivize the return of stolen cryptocurrencies.
In a recent interview, Bitget CEO Gracy Chen drew parallels to the February 2025 hack of the Bybit exchange, where approximately $1.5 billion in Ether was stolen. Chen noted that Bybit managed to freeze or recover only a small fraction, around 3.5%, of the stolen funds over a year later. This historical data led Chen to express "not very optimistic" sentiments regarding Bitget's ability to recover the full $388 million lost in the recent incident.
The crypto community has seen several large-scale hacks in recent years, including the $615 million Ronin Bridge hack in 2022 and the $611 million Poly Network hack in 2021, underscoring persistent security challenges. In response to the Bitget breach, efforts are underway to mitigate losses. For instance, the NEAR Intents team reported blocking over $50 million in assets linked to the attack, and stablecoin issuers Tether and Circle blacklisted a wallet, freezing $318,013 in USDT and USDC.
The implications of such a large-scale breach extend beyond the immediate financial losses for Bitget and its users. It can erode trust in centralized exchanges, potentially leading traders to seek more secure, albeit often less convenient, methods of custody for their digital assets. Furthermore, the sheer scale of the loss may prompt increased regulatory scrutiny on exchanges and their security protocols globally.
While Bitget has begun a phased resumption of withdrawals, starting with Bitcoin and then Ethereum, traders will be closely monitoring the exchange's ongoing security measures and transparency regarding the investigation. The success of the bounty program and any collaborative efforts with blockchain security firms will be critical in determining the extent of fund recovery and the long-term impact on Bitget's reputation and user base.
Source: Cointelegraph. Summarized and rewritten by the Vexoda Newsroom. This is market news, not financial advice.