Bitget ‘gradually back to usual’ as protection fund reaches $309M

Bitget’s chief executive, Gracy Chen, said the cryptocurrency exchange is “gradually back to usual” after a security incident that resulted in $388 million in user losses. In a post on X, Chen said users have regained access to Bitcoin, Ether and USDt balances, and that withdrawals for all tokens would resume on Friday. Chen said Bitget’s Protection Fund, which the company set up in January 2022 with an initial endowment of 5,500 BTC, had reached $309 million and “absorbed the financial impact of the incident.” The fund was established to reimburse losses not caused by user or platform misconduct and is intended to be available for immediate deployment when needed. The company has not publicly assigned blame for the breach, and Chen told Cointelegraph the investigation has not ruled out either an insider role or involvement by North Korean hacking groups. To aid recovery efforts, Bitget launched a bounty program offering 5% of any frozen funds and 5% of recovered funds to parties who provide actionable information. Blockchain researcher ZachXBT reported on Wednesday that wallets linked to the attack moved about $3.8 million in Zcash into the Ironwood pool, representing roughly 14% of the 18,917 ZEC taken in the incident. Bitget’s statements and the on-chain activity suggest a continuing effort to trace and possibly recover assets while restoring services to users.