Bitget reopens Bitcoin withdrawals after $387.5M breach

Bitget reopened Bitcoin-network withdrawals on Sept. 28 after a security breach on Sept. 24 that the exchange reported affected about $387.5 million. Ethereum and USDT withdrawals remained paused as part of a phased reopening schedule.

The company reported its security systems detected unauthorized transfers from several hot wallets at 18:31 UTC on Sept. 24. An initial estimate of roughly $351.6 million was revised to about $387.5 million after the exchange identified additional transactions tied to the incident. Bitget reported customer account balances were unchanged and that its Protection Fund would cover the financial impact.

Bitget kept trading and deposits open while suspending withdrawals. Public trade records from the exchange showed matched futures trades near 04:20 UTC on Sept. 28: 100 BTCUSDT fills between 04:20:25 and 04:20:49 UTC and 100 ETHUSDT fills between 04:20:34 and 04:20:52 UTC. A separate snapshot around 04:21 UTC displayed roughly $22.14 million of BTC futures orders and $10.29 million of ETH orders within 0.05% of each contract’s midpoint. Those snapshots demonstrate trading activity and displayed order interest at particular seconds but do not provide on-chain proof that customers completed withdrawals.

Bitget published a phased timetable for restoring off-platform transfers. Bitcoin withdrawals on the Bitcoin network were scheduled for Sept. 28. Ethereum withdrawals on Ethereum, Binance Smart Chain, Arbitrum, Base and Optimism were scheduled for Sept. 29. USDT withdrawals on Ethereum, BSC, Solana and Tron were scheduled for Sept. 30. Other tokens, fiat and peer-to-peer services were scheduled for Oct. 2. Service-opening notices indicate the exchange has reopened each service on the listed dates; separate evidence is needed to confirm individual on-chain transfers.

A hypothetical calculation based on the displayed orders showed a $500,000 sell would have averaged about 0.0095% below the BTC midpoint and about 0.0183% below the ETH midpoint, before fees. A prior liquidity sampling by a ratings firm, conducted before the breach, placed Bitget first for combined BTC and ETH futures depth within a 0.05% band and third at a tighter 0.03% band; that study ended before the security incident and does not reflect current conditions.

The observable tests for customers and market participants are on-chain confirmations and customer reports that withdrawals have completed on each network in the reopening schedule.