Bitget reopened BTC withdrawals on the Bitcoin network on Monday, the first move to restore services the exchange had frozen after attackers took about $388 million from its hot and warm wallets on Sept. 24.
The exchange said on X that BTC withdrawals began at 8:00 UTC as scheduled. Bitget also said the flaw used in the attack has been fixed and that no further unauthorized transfers were identified after containment.
Withdrawal services are returning in phases
Under a timetable Bitget published on its support site on Sept. 26, the rest of the platform’s withdrawal functions will come back in stages.
- ETH withdrawals on Ethereum, BSC, Arbitrum, Base and Optimism are scheduled for Tuesday at 8:00 UTC.
- USDT withdrawals on Ethereum, BSC, Solana and Tron are set for Wednesday at the same hour.
- All other tokens, as well as fiat and P2P withdrawals, are slated for Oct. 2.
Bitget said the order applies consistently across users, with no preference. Trading and deposits have remained open, and users do not need to take any action before their assets are unlocked.
CEO to answer questions in live AMA
CEO Gracy Chen hosted a live AMA on X at 7:30 UTC on Monday to take questions about the incident and the next steps.
How the attack worked and how losses changed
Chen said early on Sept. 25 on X that the attackers did not need Bitget’s private keys. According to her, the attacker compromised “a critical backend system within our wallet infrastructure,” used it to spoof transaction data, and triggered the exchange’s authorization process to move funds out.
Mandiant and SlowMist are assisting with the investigation. On Sept. 25, Bitget raised its loss estimate to roughly $387.5 million from an initial $351.6 million after adding transfers on Zcash and TRON.
Chen has also said the attack matched techniques used by hacking groups linked to North Korea.
Coverage plan and bounty offer
Bitget said its User Protection Fund, which holds about $464 million, will fully cover the losses. The exchange is also offering a 5% bounty on any stolen funds that are frozen or recovered through voluntary efforts.