Circle and Tether Act to Freeze Stablecoins Following Bitget Hack

Circle and Tether Take Action Against Bitget Hack

In response to the Bitget exchange hack, Circle and Tether have blacklisted a wallet linked to the incident, effectively freezing access to approximately $318,000 in stablecoins. This action was initiated by Circle at 05:00 UTC on Friday, with Tether following a few hours later.

The wallet, known as "Bitget Exploiter 8" on Etherscan, held around 99,990 USDC and 218,023 USDT. However, it also contained about 170 ETH, which remains unaffected since issuers can only freeze their own tokens, not Ethereum itself. Other addresses connected to the hack reportedly hold over 63,000 ETH that is similarly untouchable.

This freezing measure comes as part of a broader response to a breach that is estimated to have caused losses of around $387 million, with the Lazarus Group, a North Korean hacking organization, suspected to be involved. Bitget's CEO Gracy Chen stated that the attackers exploited a vulnerability in the exchange's wallet infrastructure to manipulate transaction data and execute unauthorized transfers.

To mitigate the impact of the hack, Bitget has established a user protection fund exceeding $464 million, aimed at covering the losses incurred by users. While the swift actions of Circle and Tether represent a minor recovery in the aftermath of this significant breach, they also highlight the ongoing debate regarding the centralized control that stablecoin issuers hold over their assets, which are intended to be permissionless.