Bitget halts withdrawals after $351.6M wallet breach

Crypto exchange Bitget confirmed unauthorized transfers totaling $351.6 million from a limited number of hot and warm wallets and has temporarily suspended withdrawals while it investigates. Deposits and trading remain available and user account balances are accurate, the exchange reported.

Bitget’s security systems detected the transfers at 18:31 UTC on Thursday and triggered emergency response procedures. CEO Gracy Chen confirmed the incident was confined to portions of the exchange’s hot and warm wallet layers; cold wallets were not affected.

Withdrawals will remain paused while Bitget conducts a security review. The exchange has flagged the blockchain addresses linked to the transfers and notified law enforcement and on-chain security firms to assist the inquiry. Bitget declined to speculate on how the wallets were compromised pending the review.

Chen added that the full amount affected falls within Bitget’s User Protection Fund, which currently holds more than $464 million. The exchange pledged to issue hourly updates and to publish a full incident report, including a root-cause analysis and corrective actions, within 24 hours.

Hot wallets are connected to the internet and used to process active trading and withdrawals; cold wallets are stored offline to protect larger reserves. Bitget said the issue was limited to parts of its hot and warm wallet infrastructure and that its cold storage holdings remain secure.

The company did not disclose technical details about the breach, the specific assets involved, or whether any funds have been recovered. No timeline has been provided for when withdrawals will resume.