Bitget CEO 'not very optimistic' on recovering $388 million lost in hack
In brief
- Bitget raised its hack loss estimate from $352 million to $388 million.
- Bitget is offering bounties of 5% of frozen funds and 5% of recovered assets.
- NEAR Intents said its SHIELD system blocked more than $50 million in attempted transfers.
- Piraeus Bank and three other Greek providers were added to ESMA's MiCA register.
Bitget raises its loss estimate
Bitget first put losses at $352 million and later raised that to $388 million after reviewing additional transfers. Cointelegraph's own count is $387.5 million, stolen on Thursday (the two figures differ only by rounding).
Chen told Cointelegraph she's looking to the $1.5 billion Bybit hack of February 2025 as a reference point. Only a small percentage of those stolen assets had been frozen or recovered, she said. She initially pointed to evidence suggesting North Korean involvement, but that isn't a settled finding, and the exchange is still investigating the source of the breach.
Withdrawals are coming back in stages. Bitcoin reopened on Monday and Ether followed on Tuesday.
NEAR Intents says it blocked $50 million
A significant portion of the stolen funds moved across chains to Ethereum, according to Alex Shevchenko, general manager of NEAR Intents. Shevchenko said the platform's SHIELD system detected and blocked more than $50 million in attempted transfers, which then went to other providers. By his account, NEAR Intents froze $503,000 during execution, while around $166,000 in suspected stolen funds got through.
His comments came as THORChain faced calls to block addresses linked to the attack. Shevchenko argued that permissionless systems don't necessarily have to be neutral.
“The people who build these systems make choices about what those protocols enable. Refusing to help launder stolen assets is one of ours,” Shevchenko said.
Greece gets its first MiCA entries
Four Greek providers (BCash, Xenios Blockchain Group, Capital Wallet Greece and Piraeus Bank) showed up on ESMA's MiCA register when it was updated Thursday. They're the country's first entries. Six other crypto-asset service providers from Germany, France and Slovenia were also added, which brings the register to 359 unique providers.
Binance could've been first.
The exchange, which Cointelegraph described as the world's largest by trading volume, withdrew its Greek application on June 24, before the Hellenic Capital Market Commission (HCMC) issued a formal decision. The Wall Street Journal reported that European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde had intervened to block the application. According to the Journal, HCMC denied that its officials made the comments attributed to them and didn't elaborate. The regulator later expanded on that denial to Cointelegraph.
Frequently asked questions
How much was stolen in the Bitget hack?
Bitget first estimated its losses at $352 million. After reviewing additional transfers, it raised the figure to $388 million. Cointelegraph reported the amount as $387.5 million, so the two numbers differ only by rounding.
What is Bitget offering to recover the stolen funds?
Bitget launched a bounty program that pays 5% of any funds frozen and another 5% of assets that are successfully recovered. CEO Gracy Chen said she isn't very optimistic about recovering much of the money. She pointed to the $1.5 billion Bybit hack, where only a small percentage of assets was frozen or recovered.
