An estimated $351.6 million in cryptocurrency has been moved out of the hot wallets of digital asset exchange Bitget in a suspected hack, prompting an immediate emergency response from the platform's security team.

Bitget CEO Gracy Chen confirmed the incident in a statement on Thursday, noting that the company activated emergency protocols as soon as the movements were detected. Blockchain security firms had flagged the issue earlier in the day.

"At 18:31 UTC on September 24, 2026, Bitget's security systems detected unauthorized transfers from some of our hot wallets," Chen wrote on X. "Our security team activated emergency response protocols immediately."

She added: "Bitget has navigated multiple market cycles. We will not run from this. Every dollar and every decision will be accounted for, transparently and in full."

[SECURITY NOTICE] Bitget Hot Wallet Incident — September 24, 2026

At 18:31 UTC on September 24, 2026, Bitget's security systems detected unauthorized transfers from some of our hot wallets. Our security team activated emergency response protocols immediately. What we have…

— Gracy Chen @Bitget (@GracyBitget) September 24, 2026

Bitget, which is based in Victoria, Seychelles, ranks as the sixth-largest cryptocurrency exchange in the world, processing more than $1.1 billion in trading volume per day, according to CoinGecko data.

The breach lands at a time when crypto security is in the spotlight following a string of incidents this year that have left the community reeling. In July, hackers targeted a firmware bug in the popular bitcoin hardware wallet Coldcard to steal nearly $120 million in user funds. Earlier this month, purported white-hat hackers withdrew about 4,000 bitcoins — worth roughly $320 million at the time — from the federation wallet of Blockstream's Liquid sidechain.

Chen said the exchange's cold wallets remained fully secure and that user funds were safe. "Bitget operates a three-tier wallet architecture — the breach contained only a portion of the hot wallet and warm wallet layers," she wrote. In exchange operations, hot wallets are the internet-connected balances kept available process day-to-day withdrawals, while cold wallets hold reserves offline — a separation intended to limit any compromise to the online layers rather than deeper reserves, which is why the reported status of Bitget's cold wallets is the key reassurance for its users.

Deposits and trading remain fully operational, according to the statement, while withdrawals are temporarily paused until a security review is complete — a standard containment measure after suspected wallet compromises, though one that leaves users unable to move funds off the platform until it concludes. The company has not disclosed how the unauthorized transfers occurred, making the findings of that review and the restoration of withdrawals the next developments to watch.

Blockchain data firm Arkham Intelligence created a dashboard shortly after the transfers, showing that a number of different cryptocurrencies — including stablecoins — had been moved out of Bitget's hot wallet. While Bitcoin did not appear on Arkham's list, crypto security firm Hacken later said on X that the largest cryptocurrency had also been moved.

This article first appeared on Bitcoin Magazine and was written by Mathew Di Salvo.