Bitget Hack Leaves $157 Million in XRP Beyond Freeze Controls

More than 102.97 million XRP taken from Bitget remains divided among five wallets that the XRP Ledger cannot freeze, leaving exchanges and bridges as the main points where transfers could be intercepted.

The transfers began at 3:01 p.m. ET (19:01 UTC) on Sept. 24, when 102,976,680 XRP moved from two Bitget-labeled wallets in three payments to a newly created address. The funds were later split among four wallets holding about 20 million XRP each and another holding about 22.98 million XRP.

Bitget detected unauthorized transfers at 2:31 p.m. ET (18:31 UTC) and estimated the breach affected approximately $351.6 million in assets. The exchange said its cold wallets were unaffected, withdrawals were temporarily suspended and its User Protection Fund would cover user losses.

Native XRP is governed differently from tokens issued on the ledger. Trust-line restrictions can affect some issued tokens, but the ledger cannot freeze native XRP. Custodial platforms can still block assets held within their own systems.

At least 33,500 XRP later moved through Bridgers in 12 payments between 8:24 and 9:02 p.m. ET on Sept. 24. The stolen XRP was valued between $157.48 million and $158.05 million depending on the price and snapshot time.