North Korean hackers suspected in $351M crypto theft, the largest so far this year

Bitget announced on Sept. 25 that more than $351 million was taken from its hot wallets during a cybersecurity incident detected Thursday. The firm said the funds were moved without authorization and that it has temporarily halted crypto withdrawals across its platform. Bitget did not provide a timetable for when withdrawals will resume.

Chief executive Gracy Chen said the characteristics of the intrusion were "highly consistent with known patterns of North Korean hacker organizations," which security researchers have previously linked to large-scale crypto thefts. Blockchain intelligence provider TRM Labs reported that actors tied to North Korea have been responsible for roughly three-quarters of crypto thefts in 2026 so far.

The theft is the largest reported in the crypto sector this year, surpassing a separate September hack that involved about $340 million and where the attacker later returned all but $47 million. Bitget said it maintains a user protection fund of $464 million and expects that reserve to cover the loss from the breach.

The incident adds to a series of high-profile compromises that have targeted exchanges and other crypto firms, often exploiting internet-connected infrastructure such as hot wallets or vulnerabilities in open-source software. Bitget has posted updates on X but has not released a full technical postmortem or timeline for restoring normal operations.