Bitget chief executive Gracy Chen said on Tuesday that the company remains uncertain about its ability to fully freeze or recover the digital assets taken during a security breach last week. The exchange disclosed that roughly $388 million in cryptocurrency was stolen, a figure that was later revised upward from an initial $352 million estimate.

Chen referenced the February 2025 hack of Bybit as a reference point, noting that the Bybit incident resulted in the loss of about $1.5 billion in Ether and that only a small fraction of those funds had been successfully frozen. She said Bitget’s own recovery efforts are still in early stages.

The exchange launched a bounty program that offers a 5% reward for assets that are frozen and an additional 5% for those that are recovered. Several firms have already taken steps to limit exposure to the stolen funds. The NEAR Intents team reported that it blocked more than $50 million in assets linked to the attack and froze roughly $500,000. Tether and Circle each blacklisted a wallet tied to the exploit, freezing $318,013 in USDT and USDC respectively.

Chen also addressed the question of responsibility, saying that early investigations pointed to North Korean actors based on IP address patterns associated with known groups. She added that Bitget had not ruled out the possibility of an insider involvement, but emphasized that further inquiry was required.

Withdrawal services have been gradually restored. Bitcoin withdrawals resumed on Monday, and Ethereum withdrawals are set to follow on Tuesday. The incident marks one of the largest crypto exchange breaches reported in 2026, joining a series of high‑profile hacks that include the $320 million Liquid Network exploit in September 2025, the $615 million Ronin Bridge theft in 2022, and the $611 million Poly Network breach in 2021.

Bitget’s revised figures and ongoing investigation underscore the challenges faced by exchanges in protecting user funds and the broader implications for the cryptocurrency ecosystem.