Bitget CEO Gracy Chen expressed low expectations regarding the recovery of assets lost in a recent security breach. The incident resulted in the theft of $388 million in cryptocurrency, an increase from the initial estimate of $352 million reported by the exchange.
Chen referenced the February 2025 hack of the Bybit exchange as a benchmark for the current situation. During that event, hackers stole $1.5 billion in Ether, with the company managing to freeze or recover only $80 million, which accounts for approximately 3.5% of the total stolen funds.
In response to the attack, Bitget launched a bounty program offering 5% of the value for frozen funds and 5% for recovered assets. External entities have also intervened, with NEAR Intents blocking over $50 million in assets and freezing $500,000. Tether and Circle blacklisted a wallet, freezing $318,013 in stablecoins.
The CEO noted that while initial analysis of IP addresses and VPN usage pointed toward a North Korean group, the company has not ruled out the possibility of an inside job. Bitget has begun a phased resumption of user withdrawals, starting with Bitcoin on Monday and Ethereum on Tuesday.
