North Korean Hackers Blamed for $388 Million Bitget Exchange Theft

North Korean hackers are responsible for a $388 million theft from the Bitget cryptocurrency exchange, according to an update from CEO Gracy Chen.

The CEO stated on Friday that the revised figure reflects a more complete accounting of unauthorized transfers from the exchange’s hot wallets, which were first flagged by security firms on Thursday. Chen said the attack method, based on IP behavior and on-chain analysis, is highly consistent with known patterns of North Korean hacker organizations like Lazarus.

Bitget, which processes over $1 billion in daily volume, has frozen withdrawals and identified the stolen assets, which primarily included Ethereum, Tron, and USDT stablecoin. However, on-chain tracking shows the attacker also holds over $28.8 million in Bitcoin.

The incident is the latest in a series of major crypto breaches this year, with experts noting that cyber criminals, particularly state-linked groups, are becoming more sophisticated and faster, potentially aided by AI tools.