Circle and Tether Freeze Funds Tied to Bitget Crypto Hack

TLDR

• Circle and Tether froze about $318,000 in USDC and USDT tied to the Bitget hack.
• Bitget raised its estimate of stolen assets to $387.5 million, up from $351.6 million.
• Bitget is offering 5% rewards for freezing stolen funds and another 5% for recovering them.
• The exchange says it found the attack path and fixed the vulnerability behind it.
• Withdrawals will restart in phases starting September 28, beginning with Bitcoin.

---

Bitget, a major crypto exchange, is dealing with the aftermath of a large hack that hit its systems this week. The exchange first estimated losses at $351.6 million. It has since raised that number to $387.5 million.

Circle and Tether Freeze $318,000 Linked to Bitget Hack

According to CoinDesk, Circle and Tether blacklisted an address labeled “Bitget Exploiter 8,” freezing 218,023 USDT and 99,990 USDC, worth approximately $318,000 combined. Circle took action at 05:00 UTC on September 25,… pic.twitter.com/0CLm2oKVVZ

— Wu Blockchain (@WuBlockchain) September 26, 2026

The attack happened on September 24. Bitget detected unauthorized transfers from some of its hot wallets at 18:31 UTC that day. Hot and warm wallets were affected, but cold wallets stayed secure.

Bitget CEO Gracy Chen said attackers compromised a backend system tied to the exchange’s wallet infrastructure. She said they spoofed transaction data to trigger the wallet’s authorization process. Chen ruled out a stolen private key as the cause.

Stablecoin Issuers Step In to Freeze Funds

Circle and Tether both took action after the hack. Circle blacklisted a wallet holding stolen funds at 05:00 UTC on Friday. The wallet held about 170 ETH, 218,023 USDT and 99,990 USDC.

Thank you to Circle and Tether for moving quickly. Every address frozen matters.

To the broader community: Bitget’s Recovery Bounty Program is live — 5% for freezing attacker funds, 5% for recovery. Every exchange, security researcher, and onchain investigator can make a… https://t.co/UrFjceBL49

— Gracy Chen @Bitget (@GracyBitget) September 26, 2026

Tether banned the same wallet shortly after, according to blockchain security firm MistTrack. Together, the two companies froze roughly $318,000 in stablecoins.

That amount is a small piece of the total loss. MistTrack said other addresses tied to the attacker still hold more than 63,000 ETH. Ether cannot be frozen the way stablecoins can, since no single company controls it.

Security researcher Taylor Monahan tracked some of the stolen USDC as it moved through different wallets. She said some of it was converted into ETH during the process.

Bitget raised its total loss estimate after adding assets from two networks it had missed at first. The company said the new $387.5 million figure includes affected assets on Zcash and TRON.

Bitget said this update reflects a fuller accounting of the original hack. It is not linked to any new unauthorized transfers.

The list of affected assets is long. It includes XRP, ETH, USDT, ZEC, USDC, USDT0, XAUt, BNB, AVAX and TRX.

Investigators have identified four main addresses where stolen funds landed. One each sits on EVM-compatible networks, XRP Ledger, Zcash and TRON.

Bitget Launches Bounty Program for Fund Recovery

Chen announced a bounty program on X this week. It asks exchanges, security researchers and on-chain investigators for help tracking the stolen funds.

The program pays two separate rewards. Participants can earn 5% of any funds they help freeze, and another 5% of funds they help recover.

Bitget said actions already taken before the bounty was announced can still qualify. The exchange will decide who counts as eligible and how much each contribution is worth.

Legal actions do not count toward the bounty. This includes freezes ordered by courts or law enforcement.

Bitget opened a public dashboard to track the stolen funds in real time. It also created a portal where people can submit tips about the attacker’s addresses.

The exchange said Mandiant and SlowMist are helping investigate the hack. Bitget said it has since found the attack path and fixed the vulnerability behind it.

The company said no further unauthorized transfers are possible at this time.

Bitget has laid out a phased plan to restore withdrawals. Bitcoin withdrawals resume September 28. Ethereum-network withdrawals follow on September 29, then USDT on September 30, with other tokens and fiat by October 2.

Bitget said customer balances remain unaffected. It pointed to its Protection Fund, valued earlier at more than $464 million, as the backstop for the loss. The company has not issued an updated fund valuation to match the new $387.5 million loss estimate.

Chen is scheduled to hold a live question and answer session on September 28 at 07:30 UTC to discuss the incident and the exchange’s next steps.