Key takeaways
- Bitget CEO Gracy Chen says she is not very optimistic about fully recovering the roughly $388M lost.
- Bitget customers withdraw more than 4,000 BTC, about $334M, in the first hour after withdrawals resume.
- Chen attributes the breach to credential theft through a third-party vendor and says cold wallets were unaffected.
Bitget chief executive officer (CEO) Gracy Chen said she is "not very optimistic" about fully recovering the roughly $388M lost in the exchange's security breach, in remarks Cointelegraph published on September 29. Bitget customers withdrew more than 4,000 BTC, about $334M, in the first hour after withdrawals resumed, Bitcoin Magazine reported.
Chen's benchmark is Bybit's 3.5%
Chen cited the 2025 Bybit hack as her reference point for the roughly $388M lost in Bitget's security breach. Cointelegraph quoted her directly:
I'm actually not very optimistic because after a year or so of Bybit's hack, they've only [been able to freeze] about 3.5% of the total stolen funds. That's only the freezing. It's not about recovery yet.
By Chen's count, only about 3.5% of the total stolen funds from the Bybit hack had been frozen after a year or so. Chen said that was only the freezing and not yet recovery, a low bar for the roughly $388M lost in Bitget's security breach.
More than 4,000 BTC left within an hour
Bitcoin Magazine reported that Bitget customers withdrew more than 4,000 BTC, about $334M, in the first hour after withdrawals resumed. Chen's own X post said 9,585 orders and roughly 4,098 BTC were processed.
Chen posted her recap on X on September 28, the day after the hack. Cointelegraph, Bitcoin Magazine, and Chen's post describe the same breach, the same recovery uncertainty, and consistent withdrawal figures.
Bitget customers made their own judgment once withdrawals resumed, with 9,585 orders and roughly 4,098 BTC processed according to Chen's X post.
Credential theft through a third-party vendor
Chen described the breach as credential theft through a third-party vendor exploit that bypassed risk controls. She said cold wallets and private keys were unaffected.
Chen's description places the breach in credential theft through a third-party vendor exploit, while cold wallets and private keys were unaffected. The roughly $388M was still lost in Bitget's security breach after that exploit bypassed risk controls.
Chen said she is not very optimistic about fully recovering those funds. Her reference point remained the 2025 Bybit hack, where about 3.5% of the total stolen funds had been frozen.
Why It Matters
Bitcoin Breakdown's view is that the Bitget breach fits a long pattern of custodial platforms becoming honeypots for state-sponsored hackers. Chen said cold wallets and private keys were unaffected, yet credential theft through a third-party vendor exploit still cost roughly $388M, which counters the claim that trusting a custodian is safer than self-custody. When you hold your own keys, no exchange's security failures, credential theft, or exit scams can touch your funds, and self-custody also offers more privacy and censorship resistance. Bitget customers who withdrew more than 4,000 BTC in the first hour were acting on the lesson exchanges keep teaching at their customers' expense: not your keys, not your coins.
