Bitget Hack Drains $351.6 Million as Crypto Market Holds Near $2.98 Trillion

Crypto markets absorbed a major security shock this week without losing their footing, as a headline-grabbing exchange hack collided with broadly steady trading conditions across major assets.

Bitget Confirms $351.6 Million Hot Wallet Breach

Cryptocurrency exchange Bitget disclosed that attackers moved an estimated $351.6 million out of its hot and warm wallets, making it the largest single crypto theft recorded so far in 2026. The exchange's security systems flagged unauthorized transfers at 18:31 UTC on September 24, prompting an immediate emergency response.

CEO Gracy Chen said the exchange's offline cold wallets were never touched and that customer account balances remain accurate. According to Bitget's preliminary findings, attackers did not steal private keys directly. Instead, they compromised a backend system tied to Bitget's wallet infrastructure, falsified transfer data, and tricked the exchange's own authorization process into approving the withdrawals — a method Chen compared to slipping forged paperwork past a bank's back office rather than breaking into the vault itself.

On-chain investigators, including blockchain analytics firm TRM Labs, traced the stolen funds across Ethereum, the XRP Ledger, Arbitrum, Avalanche, Optimism, BNB Chain, and Base, with a portion later routed through cross-chain platforms and converted into Bitcoin. Preliminary evidence, including VPN infrastructure patterns, has raised suspicion of North Korean state-linked actors, though Bitget has stopped short of formal attribution pending a full investigation.

Bitget paused withdrawals as a precaution while deposits and trading continued uninterrupted. The company said the loss is fully covered by its User Protection Fund, which holds more than $464 million, on top of over $1 billion in additional proprietary capital. The incident follows another major breach earlier this month, when the Liquid Network lost roughly $320 million, underscoring a rough September for exchange security.

Market Holds Steady as Sentiment Stays in "Greed" Territory

Despite the hack, broader market conditions showed little sign of panic. According to data compiled by CoinGecko, the total crypto market capitalization stood at roughly $2.98 trillion as of early Friday, up about 0.3% over 24 hours, with total trading volume near $109.2 billion. Bitcoin traded around the $84,000 level, edging lower by less than 1% on the day, while maintaining dominance of roughly 56.5% of the overall market. Ethereum held about 11% market dominance.

The Crypto Fear and Greed Index, a widely tracked sentiment gauge, climbed to 74, signaling "Greed" and extending a steady rise from 71 over recent sessions. Decentralized finance also outperformed the broader market, with DeFi's combined market capitalization rising roughly 3% to $87.7 billion, while the stablecoin sector held steady at approximately $292.5 billion in market value.

What It Means for Investors

Taken together, the two developments highlight a familiar pattern in crypto markets: exchange-level security incidents continue to pose real operational risk, even as overall investor sentiment and capital flows remain resilient. Analysts note that Bitget's rapid transparency, insurance-fund backstop, and continued deposit and trading availability likely helped contain broader market contagion, in contrast to earlier cycles where major hacks triggered sharper sell-offs.

For US-based investors, the episode is a reminder to weigh exchange security practices, wallet architecture, and proof-of-reserve transparency alongside price action when choosing where to hold or trade digital assets.