Bitget CEO Gracy Chen has publicly criticized the THORChain protocol for refusing to block addresses linked to a major security breach. The exchange suffered a loss of approximately $387.5 million on September 24, 2026, following unauthorized transfers across Ethereum, XRP Ledger, Zcash, and TRON.
On September 26, 2026, Chen requested that THORChain block the attacker's addresses, but the protocol declined, citing its permissionless design. Chen highlighted a contradiction, noting that THORChain previously halted its own operations for 39 days following a $10.7 million exploit in May 2026.
During the ongoing dispute, stolen assets continued to move through the protocol. One tracked transaction involved the exchange of approximately $6.3 million in ETH for 75.2 BTC. While Chen linked the attack to patterns associated with North Korean cyber operations, official investigations are still pending.
Despite the controversy, THORChain’s native RUNE token experienced price increases, driven by higher trading volumes. The incident has drawn further attention from global regulators regarding the role of cross-chain protocols in facilitating illicit fund flows and the potential for selective intervention in decentralized finance.
