Bitget
Bitget is a cryptocurrency exchange and derivatives platform founded in 2018, and it is based in Seychelles. The exchange offers copy, futures, and spot trading on its platform.
Overview
Founded in July 2018, Bitget is a crypto exchange providing spot, derivatives, and copy trading services. It provides account registration and is accessible via web and mobile apps. The platform focuses on derivatives trading with perpetual future contracts and offers leverage of up to 125x.[10]
In November 2022, Bitget announced that it had registered in Seychelles to aid global expansion. The exchange also updated its recruitment plan with a target of 1200 headcount by the first quarter of 2023, increasing its workforce by another 50% from its existing size, to better meet user demand and support business growth.[13]
In April 2023, Bitget launched its Bitget Web3 Fund during the Hong Kong Blockchain Week, with an initial investment of $100 million. The fund is focused on investing in Web3-friendly venture capital and outstanding Web3 projects to support the development of the next generation of crypto projects.[17]
On April 18, 2023, Bitget partnered with Core DAO to launch a $200 million ecosystem fund that supports decentralized applications (DApps) built on Core Network Layer-1 blockchain.[26]
In May 2023, Bitget announced the launch of the Bitget Academy training project aimed at empowering young individuals with a $10 million investment through the Blockchain4Youth project.[12] As stated in a press release, "the project will revolve around the exchange’s core values focused on advancing crypto and blockchain technology adoption through the leadership of young generation representatives."[12]
In August 2022, Bitget introduced a Protection Fund worth $200 million to provide security against potential hacks and protect assets. In November 2022, Bitget announced it would increase its Protection Fund to 300 million USD to provide better protection and further assurance to crypto users.[23]
In April 2023, Bitget started a $100 million fund targeting Web3 startups in Asian countries to build a framework for developing Web3.[35]
On September 12, 2023, Bitget announced the establishment of the Bitget EmpowerX Fund worth $100 million. The fund is dedicated to fostering the platform’s ecosystem development, seeking investment opportunities in regional exchanges, data analytics firms, media organizations, and other entities that contribute to the growth of its ecosystem.[34] In May 2024, Gracy Chen was appointed CEO of Bitget, succeeding her prior role as managing director.[46]
Products
Buy
Bitget offers a Buy service for cryptocurrency transactions via credit/debit card, P2P trading, Quick Buy, and third-party trading.[1]
Copy Trading
Bitget provides a copy trading feature that enables users to follow and replicate the trades of other traders. In 2023, it introduced parameter recommendations, allowing elite traders to suggest parameters for their followers, simplifying the copy trading process. Recommended parameters can include Fixed Amount and Multiplier modes, Stop-Loss Ratio, Take-Profit Ratio, and Maximum position size, which followers can choose to adopt when configuring copy trading.[3]
Spot Trading
Bitget’s spot trading feature allows users to buy and sell cryptocurrencies in real time across a range of trading pairs, supporting standard spot orders on the exchange’s centralized order book with real-time pricing and market data available through the trading interface. [2]
Futures Trading
Bitget offers futures trading, allowing users to trade contracts that track the future value of assets for hedging or leveraged exposure.[4]
On Bitget, users can trade cryptocurrency futures, including perpetual contracts on assets such as Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Litecoin, with margin and leverage that can reach up to 125x depending on the product.[4] Bitget provides three futures trading options: COIN-M Futures, USDT-M Futures, and USDC-M Futures, which differ mainly by the settlement currency. USDT-M and USDC-M futures are settled in USDT and USDC, respectively, while COIN-M futures are settled in the underlying cryptocurrency, such as Bitcoin or Ethereum.[5] Bitget’s futures products use margin requirements and liquidation mechanisms to manage risk, with positions subject to automatic reduction or closure if account equity falls below platform-defined thresholds.[4]
On December 5, 2024, Bitget launched the GMCI Meme index on its futures trading platform, offering exposure to a curated basket of memecoins that meet criteria such as active trading on major centralized exchanges, significant circulating market capitalization, and strong community backing; the index is designed to be dynamic and is rebalanced on a monthly basis.[47]
Margin Trading
On Bitget, margin trading allows users to open leveraged futures positions by posting collateral rather than paying the full contract value upfront.[6] The platform tracks several margin components for each account and position. Initial Margin represents the minimum equity required to open a position and acts as collateral for counterparties. Maintenance Margin is the minimum equity that must be maintained while a position is open and is set lower than the initial requirement. Variation Margin reflects changes in equity due to unrealized profit and loss as market prices move relative to the entry level.[6]
Bitget also displays Available Margin, which is the portion of account equity that can be used to open new positions, and Risk Margin, which represents equity tied up in existing positions and exposed to market movements.[6] If account equity falls below the required Maintenance Margin, Bitget’s risk engine may trigger partial or full liquidation of positions to bring the account back within margin limits, in line with the platform’s risk control framework.[6][7]
Bitget Launchpad
Bitget Launchpad is a platform that offers early access to potential new cryptocurrency tokens from various projects. Project owners can leverage Bitget’s wide-ranging community and extensive resources to build their brand.[8]
One of the projects on the launchpad is TypeIt (TYPE), which is described as a keyboard application that allows users to earn passive income by using it for everyday typing activities.[9]
Bitget Insights
Bitget introduced a new feature in October 2022 called "Bitget Insights". This feature allows social media integration with social trading via the Bitget exchange. With Bitget Insights, novice traders can gain valuable insights from experienced traders.[16]
BitEXC
In December 2024, Bitget introduced BitEXC, a cryptocurrency exchange tailored to the Vietnamese market. The platform provides a suite of trading options, including spot and futures trading, with support for fiat currency deposits through popular Vietnamese payment methods. Features such as copy trading, trading bots, and earn programs are planned for future release.
Using Bitget's infrastructure, BitEXC aims to enhance asset security through the Bitget Protection Fund, valued above $300 million and extended to cover all BitEXC users, and seeks to engage the local community through educational initiatives. This launch aligns with Bitget’s efforts to expand its Southeast Asian presence and address Vietnam's increasing cryptocurrency adoption.[54]
Bitget Live
Bitget Live is a streaming feature introduced by Bitget to facilitate real-time interaction between crypto-focused content creators and their audiences. It enables creators, including influencers and professional traders, to host live sessions with capabilities such as screen sharing, audio streaming, co-hosting, and in-session token recommendations. These features allow users to explore and trade cryptocurrencies directly during the broadcast. The platform also includes real-time chat, replay access, and scheduling tools to ensure content remains accessible and interactive beyond the initial stream.
The feature supports creator monetization through referral links and token promotion mechanisms integrated into the live experience. Bitget also provides traffic incentives and themed events linked to Bitget Live streams. Live sessions allow audiences to follow market commentary, trading insights, and project discussions while participating in community dialogue through built-in chat. Bitget Live is part of a broader creator toolset, including on-chain affiliate programs and features like Strategy Plaza and Insights, integrating content delivery, user engagement, and monetization features within a single platform. [39][40]
BGUSD
BGUSD is a yield-bearing stable asset certificate introduced by Bitget designed to improve capital efficiency while providing passive income opportunities. On May 27, 2025, Bitget announced the launch of BGUSD as a yield-bearing stable asset certificate within its trading and wealth management platform.[48] It is integrated into Bitget’s trading and wealth management platform and can be redeemed 1:1 for USDC. Users can obtain BGUSD using either USDC or USDT, and it offers an annualized yield starting at 4%, distributed daily based on the user's minimum daily balance. During the first 30 days after launch, a promotional yield of 5% is available. The yield is derived from a mix of tokenized real-world assets, including money market funds and tokenized US Treasuries, with backing from institutional infrastructure and partners like Superstate.
BGUSD functions as a stable, income-generating asset within Bitget’s ecosystem and offers both instant and standard redemption options, with a fixed 0.1% fee for each. It is designed to maintain liquidity while reducing exposure to crypto market volatility. In addition to its role as a value-preserving instrument, BGUSD can be actively used across the platform for lending, as margin in futures trading, and staking-related products like Launchpool and PoolX. The asset is structured to support diversified, on-chain exposure to traditional financial products, combining stable returns with transparent access and platform-wide utility.[41][42]
On September 14, 2026, Bitget retired BGUSD and automatically converted user holdings across account types. Spot-account BGUSD balances were converted 1:1 into Cash+, while BGUSD balances in futures accounts and Unified Trading Accounts were converted 1:1 into USDGO.[57] Outstanding loans that used BGUSD as collateral were closed without liquidation fees, and Bitget stated that eligible users would be compensated in USDGO for one day of foregone BGUSD yield during the maintenance period, treating 1 BGUSD as equivalent to 1 USDGO for this distribution.[57] The retirement of BGUSD and migration of balances into Cash+ and USDGO reflected a shift in Bitget’s yield-bearing product lineup toward newer offerings centered on Cash+ as a cash-management service and USDGO as a platform-wide yield asset.[57]
Crypto Loans
On July 4, 2023, Bitget launched Crypto Loans to attract a new audience of users dissuaded by traditional credit institutions and seeking alternative funding via digital assets.[19]
Bitget’s Crypto Loans product is based on a dual-coin approach, allowing users to stake one coin from their holdings as collateral in exchange for the ability to borrow a corresponding amount in another coin. Each loan is issued at a specific interest rate to pay, with the borrowed amount determined by the market value of the staked collateral. The loans are issued within a predetermined period, users can choose to repay before or at the predetermined deadline.[19]
Bitget Token (BGB)
Bitget Token (BGB) is the utility token used across Bitget’s centralized exchange and decentralized wallet ecosystem. It supports various functions such as trading, transaction fee payments, and participation in platform activities. BGB holders can access benefits like token farming through Launchpool and PoolX, discounted trading fees, early access to token launches, and qualification for on-chain airdrops. The token is also used for multi-chain gas fees and can influence VIP status within the platform. According to Bitget’s December 27, 2024 BGB whitepaper update and a 2025 CEO letter, the initial BGB supply was 2 billion tokens; Bitget conducted an initial burn of 800 million BGB (40% of the total supply) in January 2025 and merged the BWB token into BGB, making BGB the sole utility token for both Bitget Exchange and Bitget Wallet as part of a broader effort to strengthen BGB’s role in the ecosystem.[43][44]
Tokenomics
According to the BGB whitepaper, BGB had an initial total supply of 2 billion tokens, and Bitget carried out an initial burn of 800 million BGB held by the core team in January 2025, equal to 40% of the total supply, resulting in a total and circulating supply of 1.2 billion BGB.[43] BGB has the following distribution:
- BFT Replacement: 25%
- Team Incentives: 20%
- New User Acquisition: 15%
- Branding (KOL): 15%
- BGB Ecosystem: 15%
- Investor Protection Fund: 10%
Starting in Q2 2025, Bitget introduced an automated quarterly burn mechanism tied to BGB’s use as gas and other parameters, with the stated goal of gradually reducing the supply to 100 million BGB.[43][44] All BGB is described as being in circulation after the initial burn, with no additional vesting or lockup schedules.[43]
Security and Compliance
Bitget emphasizes user asset protection through a dedicated Protection Fund. The fund was launched in August 2022 with $200 million in assets and was increased to $300 million in November 2022 to provide additional coverage against potential hacks and other security incidents, aiming to reassure users in the wake of major exchange failures in the wider market.[23] Subsequent valuation reports described the Protection Fund as consistently maintaining a value above $300 million, with Bitget reporting peaks of around $340 million in September 2023 and approximately $410 million in November 2023, while reiterating its commitment to keep the fund’s value at or above $300 million.[53][46]
In March 2023, Bitget entered a strategic partnership with decentralized data warehouse provider Space and Time (SxT) to strengthen transparency and verifiability of its operations.[27] Through this collaboration, Bitget uses SxT’s infrastructure to generate a tamperproof audit trail of exchange data and computation, enabling proof-of-reserves
- and proof-of-liabilities-style verification so users can independently confirm that assets held on the platform match the balances Bitget reports.[27] Bitget has published monthly Proof of Reserves (PoR) updates since December 2022 and released its 47th PoR report on September 29, 2026, stating a total reserve ratio of 131% across 19 covered assets based on a snapshot taken at 17:00 UTC+8 that day; according to Bitget, the September 24 security incident did not affect the reserves included in PoR reporting, historical reserve ratios have averaged above 120%, and PoR coverage was expanded from 4 to 19 assets on September 17, 2026.[66] The same PoR update describes the ongoing Alliance Program as allocating 30% of eligible platform transaction-fee revenue into a dedicated user reward pool that is updated daily, positioning it alongside PoR disclosures as part of Bitget’s broader approach to demonstrating platform value and solvency to users.[66]
From a regulatory and organizational perspective, Bitget registered in Seychelles in November 2022 as part of its global expansion strategy, describing the jurisdiction as a supportive environment for crypto businesses.[13] In line with evolving jurisdictional requirements, Bitget has adjusted its presence in certain markets, including an announced exit from Japan (see Regulatory Developments).[45] These measures, together with partnerships focused on identity verification and anti-fraud controls such as the Sumsub collaboration described in the Partnerships section, outline Bitget’s approach to balancing user security, operational transparency, and jurisdiction-specific compliance requirements. Under a strengthened compliance program led by Chief Legal Officer Hon Ng, Bitget reported securing licenses in Australia, Italy, Poland, and Lithuania by late 2024 and stated that it aims to continue expanding regulatory approvals, noting that its licensing coverage evolves as it enters new markets and regulatory regimes.[46]
Partnerships
Bitget x Juventus FC
In October 2021, Juventus FC signed an agreement naming Bitget its official sleeve partner—the first in the club's history.[55]
In March 2023, Bitget announced on International Women's Day that it had become an official Juventus Women's Team sponsor. Bitget’s decision to sponsor the Juventus Women’s Team was inspired by its own company composition. 40% of employees in managerial roles at Bitget are female, and the exchange is an equal opportunity employer.[15]
Bitget x Lionel Messi
In October 2022, before the Qatar World Cup, Bitget partnered with Lionel Messi, an Argentinian footballe,r making him Bitget's brand ambassador.[11]
Bitget x DOTA 2 Bali Major 2023
In June 2023, Bitget announced its sponsorship for the DOTA 2 Bali Major 2023 as the Official Crypto Exchange Partner. The partnership was set to bring together the world of crypto and e-sports in a major event scheduled from June 29 to July 9, 2023.[18]
Bitget x ClearTax
On July 21, 2023, Bitget partnered with ClearTax, a major tax filing platform in India. The partnership is designed to give Bitget users access to a specialized crypto tax platform with additional support for their community. The collaboration between Bitget and ClearTax involves multiple community awareness activities.[20]
As a result of the partnership, Bitget users can benefit from ClearTax's specialized tax filing services at discounted prices and have access to its live chat desk 24/7 during the Income Tax Return (ITR) season.[20]
Bitget x CoinTracking
On July 24, 2023, Bitget announced its partnership with CoinTracking, a crypto tax software. With CoinTracking, any crypto investor can import their trades from 100+ options, from exchanges to wallets, legacy imports, and blockchain addresses.[21]
After importing trades, investors can fully track their portfolio with 25+ advanced reporting features, from trade statistics to balances and market analysis.[21]
Bitget x Coinpanda
On August 9, 2023, Bitget announced a new partnership with the crypto tax platform Coinpanda. Bitget x Coinpanda partnership is designed to offer users an exclusive discount and the possibility of calculating crypto taxes in a few clicks.[22]
Bitget x CoinStats
On August 24, 2023, Bitget announced an alliance with CoinStats, a crypto portfolio tracker. The partnership with CoinStats allows users to monitor and manage their diverse crypto assets from a unified interface.[24]
Bitget x CCData
On August 31, 2023, Bitget announced its strategic integration with CCData, an institutional-grade digital asset data provider. This collaboration propels Bitget's commitment to excellence by delivering comprehensive data solutions tailored for institutional investors.[25]
Bitget x Space & Time
On March 27, 2023, Bitget announced a strategic partnership with Space and Time (SxT), a company specializing in decentralized data warehousing. The partnership enables Bitget to offer users enhanced transparency of exchange operations with a verifiably tamperproof audit trail of data and computation.[27]
Bitget is the first centralized exchange to leverage a decentralized data warehouse. The trustless Space and Time platform provides Bitget users with verifiable evidence that the exchange holds the assets it claims to own on behalf of its clients and supports proofs of reserves and liabilities. Bitget users also have transparency into the exchange’s activity, liquidity, assets, and liabilities, with cryptographic assurances that the underlying data and computations have not been tampered with.[27]
Bitget x Copper
On May 25, 2023, Bitget announced it would partner with Copper, a digital asset custody provider, to introduce an off-exchange settlement solution. It enables institutional clients to trade and settle in near real-time across exchanges while mitigating counterparty risk and increasing capital efficiency.[29]
Bitget x Koinly
On September 1, 2023, Bitget unveiled a major upgrade to its API, connecting to Koinly’s tax reporting platform directly, responding to invaluable feedback from its dynamic community of crypto tax users.[30]
Bitget x IEEE
On September 5, 2023, Bitget partnered with the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) at Manipal University Jaipur to foster crypto education and improve trading skills among students with a trading competition on the Bitget platform.[32]
Bitget x 3Commas
On September 8, 2023, Bitget partnered with 3Commas, a crypto trading automation company, to provide users with enhanced trading capabilities and maximize automation features for smarter cryptocurrency trading.[33]
Bitget x Sumsub
On June 4, 2024, Bitget collaborated with Sumsub, an identity verification provider, to improve its security and prevent users from deepfake scams prevalent in the crypto space. Bitget stated that, according to Sumsub’s technology benchmarks, the partnership is intended to improve detection and prevention of deepfake scams, with the companies highlighting high detection accuracy rates in their announcements.
Sumsub will provide Bitget with a range of know-your-customer (KYC) tool sets, including identity verification, facial biometrics, non-document verification, and database validation.[37][38]
Corporate Social Responsibility
Blockchain4Youth
On May 4, 2023, Bitget announced the launch of a corporate social responsibility (CSR) project — Blockchain4Youth. The project aims to create a blockchain future by empowering and inspiring younger generations to use Web3 and сrypto tools to create and engage in a decentralized space.[28]
According to Bitget, Blockchain4Youth shares the company’s mission of promoting crypto adoption by inspiring individuals. In its announcements, Bitget states that it views a blockchain-based future as important for enhancing crypto tools and products and aims to empower the younger generation to become proactive leaders in advancing these ideas. According to a Bitget study, Millennials and Gen Z, constituting 46% of crypto enthusiasts, play a significant role in shaping a crypto-friendly future.[28]
Blockchain4Her
In January 2024, Bitget launched an initiative dubbed the “Blockchain4Her” group, which aims to support female-led businesses. The initiative includes a $10 million fund to support female-led startups in the blockchain industry. The exchange said a recent study found limited gender diversity in the blockchain funding market. Findings show that female-led blockchain startups secured only 6% of the total funding in the blockchain sector.[36]
Gracy Chen explains the Blockchain4Her initiative reflects Bitget’s goal to bridge the gender gap in the blockchain industry. She said the group aims to achieve this through incubation programs, pitch competitions, and recognition events. The group will empower and encourage women to take on leadership roles in the Web3 and blockchain space.[36]
Funding
In 2018, Bitget received its Series-A funding of an initial $10 million from leading blockchain investment fund Consensus Labs and Collinstar Capital.[14]
In July 2020, Bitget completed a $10 million Series B funding round, raising its valuation to $1 billion, backed by Anlan Capital and SNK.[14]
In April 2023, Bitget received $10 million in funding in a venture round led by Dragonfly. According to Dragonfly, the investment supports Bitget's ongoing global market and service range expansion and its CSR initiatives to increase crypto education and adoption.[31]
September 2026 Hot Wallet Incident
Background and Initial On-Chain Observations
On September 24, 2026, on-chain analysts observed more than $170–183 million in crypto assets, including ETH, USDT, USDC, AVAX, BNB, and other tokens, moving over about an hour from wallets labeled as belonging to Bitget, including hot and some cold wallets, to a newly created address across multiple blockchains, after which the receiving address began swapping the assets on-chain and users reported temporary issues with withdrawals amid the abnormal activity, with early independent blockchain analysis estimating that roughly $178–183 million had been moved before Bitget publicly released its own loss figure.[49][50]
Confirmed Impact and Attack Vector
Bitget stated that its security systems detected the unauthorized transfers at 18:31 UTC on September 24, 2026 and initially estimated that approximately $351.6 million in assets were affected, later revising the figure to approximately $387.5 million after further post-incident transaction classification identified additional affected Zcash and TRON transfers.[51][52][58] In its post-incident communications, Bitget described the incident as confined to a portion of its hot and warm wallet infrastructure, stating that its three-tier architecture meant cold wallets were not affected and that there were no additional unauthorized transfers after the attack was contained.[58] Following completion of a full trace-back of the incident, Bitget stated that the attacker had exploited vulnerabilities in third-party products to steal internal credentials and then used those credentials to send fraudulent withdrawal commands that bypassed its risk controls, while emphasizing that private keys were not compromised and cold wallets remained unaffected.[62]
Fund Flows and Freezing Efforts
Blockchain security firm MistTrack reported that some of the attacker-controlled addresses began routing part of the stolen assets into the THORChain cross-chain liquidity protocol to conduct swaps and transfers, and it publicly questioned what responsibility such protocols should bear when they continue to process funds that have been widely flagged as originating from major exchange hacks.[59]
Independent researcher Emmett Gallic of Arkham Intelligence stated that the suspicious transactions involved three Bitget hot wallets and one cold wallet operating across multiple blockchains, with assets including ETH, BNB, AVAX, and USDT consolidated into a single address before being moved further. CoinDesk and on-chain analysts reported that stablecoin issuers Circle and Tether froze a small portion of the stolen funds by blacklisting an address labeled “Bitget Exploiter 8,” which held roughly 218,023 USDT and 99,990 USDC (about $318,000 combined), while MistTrack data indicated that other attacker-linked addresses continued to hold more than 63,000 ETH that could not be frozen at the token-issuer level.[56][61] Separately from Bitget’s internal response, NEAR Intents stated that its SHIELD risk-intelligence system detected over $50 million in attempted laundering flows linked to the Bitget hack, of which around $166,000 passed and approximately $503,000 in hacked funds were frozen mid-execution pending legal and recovery processes; NEAR Intents and SHIELD also said they would waive any claim on Bitget’s public bounty so that any recovered funds from those frozen amounts could more fully return to Bitget and its users.[67][68]
Exchange Response, Protection Fund and Recovery
As a precaution, the exchange temporarily suspended withdrawals while keeping deposits and trading fully operational, and it said user account balances remained accurate and were not impacted by the incident.[51][52][58] Bitget and CEO Gracy Chen stated that user funds were protected because the loss fell within the coverage of the platform’s User Protection Fund, which they reported as holding more than $464 million at the time of the incident, and Chen later reiterated that user funds were 100% covered by the Protection Fund, with no user impact from the incident, adding that Bitget would replenish the fund with its own capital to exceed $300 million within a week.[62]
The company reported having identified and flagged the relevant transfer addresses, engaging law enforcement agencies and on-chain security firms, and committing to publish a full incident report with root-cause analysis and remedial measures once its investigation was complete; Bitget later stated that it had engaged Mandiant and SlowMist to support forensic investigation and fund tracing and that both firms continued to assist an independent forensic and asset-tracing process.[58][62] Bitget began a phased resumption of withdrawals following the September 24 security incident, stating that BTC withdrawals on the Bitcoin network restarted at 08:00 UTC on September 28, 2026 as scheduled after additional security hardening of its withdrawal infrastructure; it said the underlying vulnerability had been remediated, the incident remained contained with no further unauthorized transfers identified after containment, and user account balances remained unaffected.[63] Bitget announced that withdrawals would resume in phases between September 28 and October 2, 2026 across major assets, fiat, and P2P services, with Chen outlining a schedule that began with BTC withdrawals on September 28 at 08:00 UTC, followed by ETH on September 29, USDT on September 30, and other supported tokens, fiat, and P2P services on October 2, describing the staged approach as a way to balance security validation across multiple chains and asset types with restoring user access.[51][58][60] In a subsequent update on September 28, Chen reported that BTC withdrawals on Bitcoin mainnet and BNB Smart Chain had resumed, with 9,585 orders and 4,098.036 BTC processed as of 17:00 UTC+8, and stated that ETH, USDT, and other assets would follow in additional phases starting September 29, 2026.[62] Following the resumption of ETH withdrawals, Bitget later reported ETH inflows of approximately 9,674 ETH and outflows of approximately 9,023 ETH as of 09:00 UTC on September 29, 2026, noting that this followed the earlier restart of BTC withdrawals across the Bitcoin and BNB Smart Chain networks on September 28.[69] Bitget stated that affected systems and relevant servers were isolated to prevent further compromise and preserve forensic evidence and described revoking and reissuing internal credentials, restructuring access to highly sensitive systems, and notifying the relevant third-party vendor whose products had been exploited, sharing vulnerability details and disabling the affected functionality pending a fix.[62]
CoinDesk characterized the incident as potentially the largest centralized-exchange hack reported in 2026 up to that date and noted that it came in the same month as other large-scale exchange security breaches, framing the Bitget event within a cluster of major exchange incidents that prompted renewed scrutiny of centralized platforms’ hot wallet practices.[[56]] In public comments following the incident, Chen thanked Circle and Tether for freezing the attacker-controlled stablecoin balances and reiterated Bitget’s Recovery Bounty Program terms, which offered the attacker a 5% bounty on any frozen funds and a further 5% on any successfully recovered funds, while emphasizing what she described as broad, industry-wide cooperation among exchanges, stablecoin issuers, and security firms during the response.[[62]]
Bitget also announced a post-incident initiative called “Project Stand Together,” which it presented as a user-support and recovery campaign and which directed users to the Bitget Alliance Program for additional incident-linked rewards, VIP protections, and other benefits tied to trading activity during the recovery period.[[63]] In a related measure, Bitget introduced temporary enhanced terms for PRO clients and market makers for the period from September 28, 2026 to October 30, 2026, including a 20% taker-fee discount, a 20% increase in maker rebates, and extensions of PRO tier protections through November 30, 2026.[[67]] CoinDesk reported that Bitget Token (BGB) fell sharply on the initial hack reports before ending the day down only a few percent, while Bitcoin and Ethereum saw comparatively modest price moves over the same period.[[67]]
Bitget Alliance Program
As part of its broader post-incident recovery campaign, Bitget launched the Bitget Alliance Program on September 28, 2026 in response to the September 24 hot wallet incident.[64][65] The promotion ran from September 28, 2026, 16:00 to October 26, 2026, 16:00 (UTC+8) and established an exclusive user reward pool equivalent to 30% of the platform’s transaction-fee revenue for the campaign period, with rewards distributed based on eligible users’ valid trading contributions and asset value.[65] During the campaign, eligible VIP users were granted 30 days of VIP level protection and dedicated VIP support, intended to maintain their existing VIP benefits while offering more targeted assistance across user tiers.[64][65]
