Bitget's CEO Gracy Chen confirmed that the cryptocurrency exchange suffered a loss of $351.6 million due to a cyberattack that exploited vulnerabilities in its wallet system. The attackers were able to spoof transaction data, executing unauthorized transfers without compromising the exchange's private keys, which remain secure.
Chen detailed that the breach involved a critical backend component of the wallet infrastructure, allowing hackers to create fraudulent transaction requests that bypassed standard authorization. "The attacker compromised a critical backend system within our wallet infrastructure and triggered our authorization process to move funds out," she noted on X. The assurance that private key compromise was not involved is crucial, as such breaches typically lead to significant financial losses.
In cryptocurrency wallets, a public key is shared for receiving funds, while a private key is kept secret for authorizing transactions. If a hacker gains access to the private key, they can freely initiate transfers. Chen compared the breach to submitting forged withdrawal slips at a bank, emphasizing that the vault's keys remained secure throughout the incident.
