Major Exchange plans phased withdrawals after hack

TLDR

Bitget, a major crypto exchange, is restarting withdrawals gradually after a roughly $387.5 million hot?wallet hack, while saying user balances remain fully covered.

1. Bitget lost around $350387.5 million in a backend wallet breach, but cold storage and user account balances are reported intact and backed by a protection fund.
2. Withdrawals will reopen in phases, starting with Bitcoin (BTC) then Ethereum (ETH) and USDT, with all tokens, fiat and P2P planned to be live by early October.
3. The phased plan and reliance on a BTC?denominated fund create solvency and liquidity questions, so users should watch the timetable, BTC price and investigation updates closely.

Deep Dive

1. Scale And Nature Of The Hack

Reports say Bitget suffered unauthorized transfers of between $350 million and $387.5 million from its hot and warm wallets after attackers compromised a critical backend wallet component and spoofed transaction data so internal systems signed off transfers as legitimate. Cold wallets and private keys were not directly breached, and trading plus deposits stayed open during the incident, with the exchange stating that user balances are unchanged and covered by a User Protection Fund holding over $460 million in assets. Investigators, including Mandiant and SlowMist, are helping Bitget and partner exchanges trace funds, and some stablecoin issuers have already frozen part of the stolen assets, while most ETH and XRP remain in attacker?controlled wallets according to on?chain analysis.

2. How The Phased Withdrawal Plan Works

Bitget has published a staged timeline to bring withdrawals back online: BTC network withdrawals are scheduled first, followed by ETH and major EVM networks, then USDT across several chains, and finally all remaining tokens, fiat services and P2P functions by around October 2, giving the team time to validate each network before fully reopening. The exchange emphasizes that this approach allows controlled stress testing of the repaired infrastructure and aligns cash flows with its BTC?denominated protection fund. Analysts note that opening BTC withdrawals first encourages users to convert other assets into BTC, letting Bitget meet redemptions directly out of its BTC reserve.

3. Solvency, Liquidity And What To Watch

Commentary around the incident highlights that Bitgets 5,500 BTC fund may fully cover the loss only if BTC stays above a rough price floor, creating sensitivity to broader market moves while withdrawals resume. The exchange is also launching a recovery bounty program and working with other platforms to freeze hacker funds, but on?chain flows show some assets already moved through other exchanges, which can slow or limit recovery. For crypto users, the key signals are: confirmed reopening times on official channels, actual withdrawal success reports from users, BTC price versus the funds coverage, and any regulatory or law?enforcement updates that could affect the platforms operations.

Conclusion

Bitgets hack underscores how much risk sits in exchange infrastructure, even when core networks and private keys remain intact. A phased withdrawal reopening, backed by a BTC?denominated fund and external security partners, is designed to limit panic and test the repaired systems, but it also makes BTC price and venue?level liquidity key variables to watch. For crypto users, the practical takeaway is to treat large exchange incidents as counterparty events and track official timelines, solvency signals and on?chain recovery efforts before assuming business as usual.