Bitget reported that unauthorized transfers emptied roughly $351.6 million from a small set of its hot and warm wallets on September 24 at 18:31 UTC. The exchange triggered its emergency protocols within minutes, according to CEO Gracy Chen. While the breach compromised several active wallets, the platform’s cold-storage holdings and the bulk of customer balances were untouched.
Impact on assets and user protection
Fifteen distinct transfers moved nearly $192 million across seven different tokens. Ethereum represented the largest slice, making up 44.4% of the total value taken. Chen emphasized that the loss falls entirely within the scope of Bitget’s User Protection Fund, which currently exceeds $464 million. As a result, customer balances are said to remain accurate, and the fund will absorb the shortfall.
Broader context of September losses
The incident arrives amid a string of September exploits that have already cost the sector more than $331 million, according to DeFiLlama’s tracking. Earlier attacks, such as the Fetch.AI theft and a massive Liquid Network incident, pushed that figure past $342 million. Adding Bitget’s breach lifts the month’s reported total to over $684 million, surpassing April’s $646.9 million loss — the previous 2026 high driven by the Drift and KelpDAO attacks.
Next steps and transparency
Bitget has frozen withdrawals while a security review is underway and has flagged the addresses involved, notifying both law-enforcement bodies and on-chain security firms. The exchange plans to issue hourly status updates and publish a comprehensive incident report within 24 hours, detailing the root cause and remedial actions. Chen pledged that every decision and dollar will be accounted for with full transparency.
Why it matters
The breach underscores the persistent vulnerability of hot-wallet infrastructures even at large, regulated exchanges. By drawing on its User Protection Fund, Bitget mitigates immediate financial damage to users, yet the suspension of withdrawals may erode confidence and affect market liquidity. The episode also contributes to a record-setting month of crypto losses, highlighting the broader systemic risk posed by repeated security failures across the ecosystem.
