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Bitget CEO sees little chance of recovering most of the $388 million stolen from the exchange
Bitget CEO Gracy Chen said she is not very optimistic about freezing or recovering the $388 million in crypto stolen from the exchange in a breach late last week.
Chen made the remarks in an interview published Tuesday, pointing to the February 2025 hack of Bybit as a reference point. Attackers took about $1.5 billion in Ether from Bybit, and the exchange has frozen and recovered a combined $80 million in the year since, about 3.5% of the stolen funds.
“I’m actually not very optimistic because after a year or so of Bybit’s hack, they’ve only [been able to freeze] about 3.5% of the total stolen funds,” Chen said. She added that freezing is not the same as recovery: “That’s only the freezing. It’s not about recovery yet.”
Bitget first reported a loss of $352 million after the Thursday attack, then raised the figure to $388 million after a more complete accounting of transfers. The exchange suspended withdrawals and has resumed them in stages, starting with Bitcoin on Monday and Ether on Tuesday.
In a post on X announcing the exchange’s Recovery Bounty Program, Chen said 5% of attacker funds frozen and 5% of funds recovered goes to whoever helps, with exchanges, security researchers and onchain investigators eligible. A trace explorer for the program is live at trace.bgblockchain.xyz. She also thanked Tether and Circle for blacklisting a wallet tied to the exploit, which froze $318,013 in USDT and USDC.
The NEAR Intents team said Monday it had blocked more than $50 million in assets tied to the attack and frozen about $500,000. Blocked assets are held from moving, which is not the same as frozen or returned.
Chen said a DPRK-linked group may have been responsible, citing IP addresses that match the VPN choices of such a group, and stressed the attribution is preliminary. She said preliminary investigation results ruled out an inside job, while noting Bitget had not totally ruled the possibility out.
The breach is among the largest crypto attacks of 2026, following a $320 million exploit of the Liquid Network in September.
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