Bitget hack: $388 million stolen in suspected North Korean cyberattack

The cryptocurrency exchange Bitget suffered a major security breach resulting in the theft of approximately $387 million to $388 million in digital assets. Analysis from blockchain security firms Chainalysis and Elliptic indicates a high probability of North Korean involvement, noting that the stolen funds were linked to previous North Korean-attributed hacking incidents, such as the Bybit breach.

Chainalysis reported that within the first three hours of the attack, the stolen assets were distributed across four blockchains through 23 separate transactions. The distribution included Ethereum (49.7%), XRP (40.8%), Zcash (7.6%), and Tron (1.8%). Attackers utilized cross-chain liquidity protocols and instant swap services to obfuscate the trail, specifically converting XRP into Bitcoin to complicate tracking.

The Bitget incident, alongside a $318.7 million theft from the Liquid Network, contributed to a massive surge in digital asset losses for September. Total reported damages for the month reached between $706 million and $768 million, marking the largest monthly loss of the year. Security firms PeckShield and CertiK noted that these two major incidents accounted for over 90% of the total monthly losses.