How much was stolen from Bitget?

Approximately $350 million, according to Bitget CEO Gracy Chen and DefiLlama's hack tracker, which now ranks the September 24 breach as the largest crypto hack of 2026.

Were user funds or private keys compromised?

Chen said the attackers breached a backend system and never obtained private keys. That claim has not yet been independently verified by a third-party auditor.

Are withdrawals from Bitget open?

No. Bitget suspended withdrawals shortly after detecting the breach on September 24 and had not restored them as of Thursday morning.

Why does North Korea attribution matter?

DPRK-linked units, primarily Lazarus Group, have drained more than $3 billion from crypto platforms since 2022. A confirmed link triggers sanctions screening, US Treasury scrutiny, and typically a slower path back to normal operations.

North Korea 'Very Likely' Behind $350M Bitget Hack, CEO Gracy Chen Says

Market impact

The immediate market reaction has been narrower than the headline suggests. Bitcoin held above $108,000 into the Thursday European open, and ether traded flat around $4,120, with no visible cascade in liquidations tied to the news. What has moved is BGB, Bitget's native token, which trades primarily on its home venue and dropped double digits intraday on Wednesday after the breach was disclosed.

The headline looks contained. The flow picture is thinner than that. Traders who use Bitget as a primary venue for altcoin perps have been rotating collateral to Binance, Bybit, and OKX since the freeze began, according to on-chain deposit patterns visible on Arkham. If withdrawals stay suspended into the weekend, expect basis on Bitget-listed pairs to dislocate from the broader market and expect a stablecoin outflow print that shows up in Tuesday's proof-of-reserves updates across the sector.

For exposed coins, the sharpest read-through is to tokens where Bitget accounts for a large share of centralized liquidity. Several mid-cap alts fit that description, and their books thinned visibly on Wednesday afternoon. That is a liquidity story, not a fundamentals story, but it matters for anyone trying to exit size.

Bitget CEO Gracy Chen said North Korean state-linked hackers were 'very likely' behind the $350 million breach that hit the exchange on September 24, according to comments reported by BeInCrypto on Thursday. Attackers compromised a backend system in Singapore, Chen said, but never obtained user private keys. Withdrawals remain suspended more than 24 hours after the incident.

By Rahul Mehta· AI-assisted· Altcoins & DeFi

What happened

Bitget CEO Gracy Chen told BeInCrypto that North Korean hackers were 'very likely' responsible for the $350 million theft that struck the exchange on Wednesday, September 24. Chen said the attackers breached a backend system, not the cold storage layer, and never obtained private keys tied to customer funds. She pointed to a VPN trail her security team followed as the primary basis for the attribution.

The exchange suspended withdrawals shortly after the breach was detected and has not restored them. That freeze is still in place as of Thursday morning in Singapore, where Bitget's operational headquarters sits. DefiLlama's hack tracker now lists the September 24 breach as the largest crypto exploit of 2026, edging past the string of DeFi bridge losses recorded earlier in the year.

Why it matters

North Korea attribution changes the conversation. Lazarus Group and its adjacent units have drained more than $3 billion from crypto platforms since 2022, per prior Chainalysis and TRM Labs reporting, and their playbook favors backend compromises and social engineering over on-chain exploits. A confirmed DPRK link on a top-10 exchange tightens the argument US and Korean regulators have been making all year about custody controls and sanctions screening.

Bitget is a centralized venue with roughly $8 billion in reported spot volume on a typical day and a large derivatives book. A prolonged withdrawal freeze on that scale of exchange doesn't stay contained to one order book. It bleeds into perp funding, into stablecoin flows on Tron and Ethereum, and into the counterparty conversations market makers have every morning.

Market impact

North Korea 'Very Likely' Behind $350M Bitget Hack, CEO Gracy Chen Says

What happened

Why it matters

Market impact

What to watch

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