Bitget CEO Links $352M Hack to Possible North Korean Group

Bitget CEO Gracy Chen said preliminary evidence points to a possible North Korean connection after hackers moved about $351.6 million from the crypto exchange. The incident affected parts of Bitget’s hot and warm wallet infrastructure, while the company said cold wallets remained secure. Withdrawals were temporarily suspended as investigators reviewed the breach.

Chen said investigators found IP addresses matching VPN services associated with a North Korea-linked hacking group. She also said the attack pattern resembled previous operations attributed to North Korean actors. However, Bitget has not established a final attribution, and the technical investigation remains underway. CoinDesk reported that the exchange detected unauthorized transfers on Sept. 24 and said its user protection fund held more than $464 million.

Chen said attackers transferred funds directly after breaching Bitget’s systems rather than forging withdrawal requests. She added that investigators did not find evidence that private keys for the affected wallets had been obtained. Bitget said it was working with blockchain firms and authorities on recovery efforts and planned to release a fuller incident report.