Nearly 5,000 BTC leaves Bitget as hackers begin laundering $387 million haul

According to CryptoSlate, nearly 5,000 Bitcoin left Bitget's tracked reserves after the crypto exchange resumed Bitcoin withdrawals following a $387.5 million hack. Bitget Chief Executive Officer Gracy Chen stated that the exchange processed 9,585 withdrawal orders totaling 4,098 BTC shortly after access reopened. DeFiLlama data showed Bitget's tracked balance falling by roughly 4,642 BTC to about 30,770 BTC.

Bitget froze withdrawals for four days during its security incident investigation. Chen reported that third-party product vulnerabilities allowed attackers to obtain internal credentials and submit fraudulent withdrawal instructions. Bitget stated customers will bear no losses and its Protection Fund will cover the shortfall.

Meanwhile, blockchain investigator ZachXBT reported that illicit actors were laundering the exploit proceeds. The laundering activity has sparked a dispute over whether permissionless infrastructure like THORChain should intervene. THORChain maintained that its role remains neutral and it will not selectively block wallets, while security firm GoPlus argued that THORChain node operators possess emergency capabilities to halt or freeze transactions.