Crypto CEO accuses North Korea of stealing $387 million from Bitget platform

Singaporean crypto platform Bitget said hackers stole more than $387 million from its exchange after suffering a breach on Thursday.

The company’s CEO, Gracy Chen, held a town hall after the incident and said evidence linked the theft to hackers from North Korea — which has stolen billions from other cryptocurrency platforms over the last five years.

Blockchain security firms initially saw more than $175 million leave the platform on Thursday before larger chunks were stolen from Bitget. Chen said the company’s security team initially detected unauthorized transfers and immediately activated emergency protocols. 

She confirmed that the initial estimate of the losses amounts to $387.5 million. She noted that the company has a User Protection Fund that has over $464 million and those funds will be used to cover the losses. 

Withdrawals from the platform are currently suspended while the company works with security firms Mandiant and SlowMist on the recovery effort. Law enforcement and other crypto platforms were notified about the incident. 

Chen later explained that an investigation found hackers had breached a backend system of Bitget’s wallet services and exploited vulnerabilities to enable unauthorized transfers.