Bitget has begun allowing Bitcoin withdrawals again following a breach last week in which attackers suspected to be North Korean state-sponsored actors stole more than $350 million from the exchange's systems. The platform said it has patched the security flaw that was exploited and plans to progressively restore withdrawal capabilities for other digital assets and networks.
According to Bitget's withdrawal timeline, Ethereum and related layer-2 networks (BSC, Arbitrum, Base, Optimism) will resume withdrawals on September 29 at 8:00 UTC. USDT across Ethereum, BSC, Solana, and Tron will follow on September 30 at 8:00 UTC, with all remaining tokens, fiat, and peer-to-peer assets returning to service starting October 2 at 8:00 UTC.
The temporary withdrawal pause remains a security measure and is not related to the availability of user assets. User account balances remain unaffected, and Bitget's Protection Fund covers the financial impact of this platform-wide incident.
Bitget
The exchange emphasized that the breach has been contained and no additional unauthorized transfers are occurring. Bitget noted that trading and deposit functions continue operating normally while withdrawal services are being restored.
The incident remains contained, and no further unauthorized transfers are possible. User funds are unaffected throughout this process. Trading and deposits continue to operate.
Bitget
Attack Details and Scope
Bitget halted all withdrawals on Thursday after detecting multiple unauthorized fund transfers from a subset of crypto wallets. Investigation revealed that attackers had extracted $351.6 million from the exchange's hot and warm wallet infrastructure.
CEO Gracy Chen disclosed that the incident spanned seven blockchain networks: Ethereum, XRP Ledger, Arbitrum, Avalanche, Optimism, BSC, and Base. The compromised assets included ETH, XRP, BNB, AVAX, USDT, USDC, and various other tokens.
Chen attributed the attack to North Korean hackers based on on-chain analysis and IP behavior patterns. The attackers gained access to a critical backend system within Bitget's wallet infrastructure, which they exploited to forge transaction data and manipulate the exchange's authorization mechanisms to move funds from compromised hot and warm wallets.
On Friday, Bitget revised the theft total to $387.5 million based on updated on-chain tracing and transaction classification. The company launched a Recovery Bounty Program offering 5% bounties to parties who help recover or freeze stolen funds.
Broader Pattern of North Korean Crypto Theft
State-sponsored threat actors from North Korea have orchestrated numerous major cryptocurrency thefts. The largest recorded crypto heist involved North Korean hackers stealing $1.5 billion from Bybit's Ethereum cold wallet.
British blockchain analytics firm Elliptic estimated in February 2025 that North Korean hackers have "stolen over $6 billion in crypto assets since 2017."