THORChain says it can halt the network but won’t freeze the Bitget hacker

THORChain has come out to defend itself with a clarification that the emergency halt it initiated after its May 2026 $10.6 million exploit is not the same thing as the Bitget intervention request to prevent attackers from moving part of the $387.5 million stolen from the exchange through its platform. 

The response is the latest episode in a standoff triggered by the year’s largest crypto hack after Bitget CEO Gracy Chen went public on September 26 with a formal request that THORChain refuse service to the publicly tracked attacker wallets, as Cryptopolitan reported. 

Attackers used the same THORChain route after the Bybit hack, which was, ironically, also the largest security breach of 2025. 

THORChain: A halt is not a freeze

THORChain defended its decision not to go through with Bitget’s request by directing attention to important context it claims is being missed. 

A network halt is “an emergency security mechanism designed to protect the protocol,” according to THORChain, and “is not a selective freeze of specific funds or an individual swap.” 

The DEX clarified that during the May 2026 incident, in which it lost $10.7 million to hackers, it initiated a protocol-wide shutdown to contain the incident. Even then, it did not consider blacklisting the attacker’s addresses, and it would not do it now.