TITLE: Bitget Restores Bitcoin Withdrawals Following Major Cyber Incident
Bitget, the leading cryptocurrency exchange, has announced the resumption of its Bitcoin withdrawal services. This development marks a critical step in restoring normal operations for users following last week’s devastating security breach where approximately $388 million was stolen from customer funds.
The platform confirmed that while Bitcoin access is now live again, other digital assets will be returned to the exchange wallet on staggered schedules. Specifically, withdrawals of Ether are scheduled to commence this Tuesday. The stablecoin USDT (Tether) follows shortly after, with services expected to return by Wednesday. These measures represent a phased approach to fully recovering from the attack that utilized THORChain, an interoperability protocol used for swapping cryptocurrencies across different blockchains.
The hacker successfully executed a complex swap operation involving Ether before converting assets into Bitcoin and exiting via Bitget’s own blockchain infrastructure. The security incident has forced the exchange to implement rigorous audits and restore full control over its cold storage wallets, which are not yet fully replenished with user funds recovered from external sources.
This partial restoration of services underscores the severity of the breach while signaling that operations will gradually normalize as technical fixes take effect. Users can now move Bitcoin holdings out of their Bitget accounts without restriction, though they must remain vigilant regarding potential delays for other asset classes until the full recovery timeline is completed later this week.
The incident highlights ongoing vulnerabilities in cross-chain bridge mechanisms and exchange security protocols even after years of standard defensive measures. As per reports from Cointelegraph, the situation remains fluid as Bitget works to fully address the loss of assets returned via third-party recovery efforts outside its direct control.
