Bitget CEO ‘not very optimistic’ on recovering funds from $388M breach

The CEO of crypto exchange Bitget isn’t sure that the company can fully freeze or recover all the assets compromised in a security breach last week that resulted in the loss of $388 million in crypto.

Speaking on Cointelegraph’s Chain Reaction released Tuesday, Bitget CEO Gracy Chen said she was looking at the February 2025 hack of crypto exchange Bybit as a “good reference point” for Thursday’s breach. Hackers stole about $1.5 billion worth of Ether (ETH) from Bybit, and the company reported only freezing and recovering a combined $80 million.

“I’m actually not very optimistic because after a year or so of Bybit’s hack, they’ve only [been able to freeze] about 3.5% of the total stolen funds,” said Chen. “That’s only the freezing. It’s not about recovery yet.”

Bitget CEO Gracy Chen (left) speaking to Cointelegraph’s Ciaran Lyons (right). Source: Cointelegraph

Bitget launched a bounty program in response to the incident, offering 5% of funds frozen and 5% for those recovered. Some companies have already stepped up to try to mitigate user losses. 

The team behind NEAR Intents reported on Monday that it had blocked more than $50 million in assets tied to the attack and froze about $500,000. Chen also confirmed that stablecoin issuers Tether and Circle blacklisted a wallet linked to the exploit, freezing $318,013 in USDt (USDT) and USDC (USDC).