Circle and Tether Act to Freeze Funds After $351.6 Million Bitget Hack
- Circle blacklisted the wallet labeled “Bitget Exploiter 8” at 05:00 UTC on Friday, containing approximately 218,023 USDT and 99,990 USDC.
- The total amount frozen represents a small fraction of the hack’s value, which was $351.6 million.
- About $318,000 in stablecoins remains unrecoverable as other exploiter addresses hold over 63,000 ETH, which cannot be frozen.
- Bitget CEO Gracy Chen stated that attackers exploited a backend system but ruled out private key compromise.
- Bitget’s user protection fund exceeds $464 million and is intended to cover such losses.
The swift actions by Circle and Tether contrast with their previous responses to hacks, highlighting the evolving landscape of security in cryptocurrency exchanges. This incident underscores the importance of timely intervention in mitigating losses from exploits.
Following the Bitget hack, Circle’s freezing of assets included around $318,000 in stablecoins while over 63,000 ETH remains untraceable across other wallets.
