Bitget restores Bitcoin withdrawal functionality while attacker moves ETH through THORChain
Following last week's $388 million security breach, Bitget is bringing services back online with Ether withdrawals planned for Tuesday and USDt withdrawals set for Wednesday.
Following a major security incident that impacted close to $388 million worth of digital assets, cryptocurrency exchange Bitget is bringing withdrawal services back online, even as the perpetrator continues transferring pilfered cryptocurrency via THORChain.
According to Bitget, Bitcoin (BTC) withdrawals were reinstated on Monday following their suspension in the wake of last week's security compromise, with other digital assets and blockchain networks scheduled for restoration in the days ahead.
The security incident on Sept. 24 resulted in the compromise of portions of Bitget's hot and warm wallet systems, though the exchange confirmed that its cold wallet storage remained unaffected.
The exchange subsequently updated the total amount of stolen funds from $351.6 million to $387.5 million following the discovery of additional unauthorized transfers involving Zcash and Tron.
USDT and Ether withdrawal services scheduled next as platform completes security audits
According to Bitget CEO Gracy Chen, who spoke during a Monday ask-me-anything event, Bitcoin withdrawals on both the Bitcoin network and BNB Smart Chain were the first to be restored.
"We restored BTC first because the withdrawal pipeline is the first to be completed," Chen said, noting that Tether's USDt (USDT) and Ether (ETH) would be brought back online as the platform completes additional security verification procedures.
Based on Bitget's published timeline, ETH withdrawal capabilities are slated to return on Tuesday spanning Ethereum, BNB Smart Chain, Arbitrum, Base and Optimism networks, with USDT withdrawals to follow on Wednesday across Ethereum, BNB Smart Chain, Solana and Tron. The exchange has scheduled the restoration of peer-to-peer services and withdrawals for remaining digital assets for Friday.
Chen emphasized that the restoration timeline would be applied uniformly across all users, with no preferential treatment provided to institutional clients, VIP account holders, or Bitget staff members.
THORChain explains network pause cannot target specific addresses or transactions
Bitget's CEO Gracy Chen has publicly requested that THORChain, a decentralized cross-chain asset exchange protocol, block services to wallet addresses associated with the security breach.
On Monday, Lookonchain documented that the attacker was converting Ether to Bitcoin via THORChain, with Arkham intelligence data revealing that ETH connected to the perpetrator was being routed into THORChain protocol vaults.
In a Monday statement, THORChain explained that its network pause feature functions as an emergency security tool that impacts the entire protocol and "is not a selective freeze of specific funds or an individual swap."
According to cryptocurrency author Anndy Lian, while THORChain possesses the technical capability to halt trading operations, suspend outbound transactions, or freeze a linked blockchain, these actions necessarily impact all platform users broadly. Lian noted that the protocol lacks an integrated address blacklisting mechanism, which restricts its capacity to selectively block particular wallet addresses.