Bitcoin Withdrawals

Bitget reopened Bitcoin withdrawals Monday after a $387 million hot wallet breach on September 24, but customers holding Ethereum and stablecoin balances face a staggered restoration plan lasting into October. For institutional users managing positions across multiple chains, the phased timetable creates operational friction and raises questions about full asset recovery timing.

• Bitget opened BTC withdrawals on Bitcoin network on September 28 after detecting $387.5 million in unauthorized transfers from hot wallets.
• Ethereum and USDT withdrawals remain suspended until September 29 and 30 respectively, with other tokens and fiat services not resuming until October 2.
• The exchange claims its Protection Fund covers all losses, but individual withdrawal completion has not been independently verified.

• $387.5M Total unauthorized transfers identified after initial $351.6 million estimate revision
• Sept. 28 Date Bitcoin withdrawals reopened, first stage of phased restoration plan

Bitget said its security systems detected unauthorized transfers from some of its hot wallets at 18:31 UTC on September 24, 2026, according to the exchange’s security notice. The company initially estimated affected assets at approximately $351.6 million, but a September 25 update revised that figure upward to $387.5 million after identifying additional transactions from the original incident. Bitget said the revision did not reflect new unauthorized transfers, only a more complete accounting of the initial breach.

Bitget opens Bitcoin withdrawals while stablecoin and Ethereum access remains suspended

On Monday (September 28), Bitget announced that Bitcoin withdrawals on the Bitcoin network were open, marking the first stage of its phased restoration plan. The timetable sets Ethereum and its cross-chain variants on Ethereum, BSC, Arbitrum, Base and Optimism for reopening on September 29, followed by USDT on Ethereum, BSC, Solana and Tron on September 30.

Withdrawal of other tokens, fiat services and peer-to-peer trading will not resume until October 2.

The staggered approach creates operational friction for institutional participants managing multi-chain positions or converting trading proceeds into stablecoins. A customer with Ethereum on Arbitrum, for example, cannot withdraw that asset until September 29, two days after Bitcoin access returned.

Bitget’s notice that withdrawal services are open does not document whether individual customer transfers have actually completed, leaving a gap between the exchange’s declared status and verifiable on-chain settlement.

Protection Fund backing all losses while custody and deposit functions remain operational

Bitget said customer account balances remain unaffected and that its User Protection Fund, currently holding over $464 million, will cover all financial impact from the incident.

Trading and deposit services remained open throughout the withdrawal suspension, allowing customers to execute futures positions and add funds to their accounts. Public records showed BTC and ETH futures trades executing on September 28, indicating that derivatives liquidity had returned before Bitcoin withdrawal settlement was confirmed. The distinction matters for institutional traders who may be able to hedge or liquidate positions faster than they can withdraw principal.

Phased reopening creates timing uncertainty for multi-asset portfolios and stablecoin-dependent strategies

Institutional investors holding concentrated positions in Ethereum or dollar-pegged tokens face a two-to-four-day wait before converting holdings to on-chain assets.

For strategies dependent on stablecoin liquidity, such as those using USDT as a bridge between exchanges or for margin collateral, the September 30 reopening date creates a discrete cliff risk if market conditions shift or if competing exchanges tighten credit terms against Bitget-sourced assets during the interim.

The reopening plan does not specify whether withdrawal limits, per-address caps or additional verification steps will apply once each asset class goes live.

The CCS read. We see an exchange protecting its own capital stack first, cold storage was never at risk, trading continued uninterrupted, and deposits remained open. The Protection Fund statement is a legal hedge, not a guarantee. Institutional users should independently verify on-chain settlement completion before moving capital dependency to Bitget, and should model the impact of stablecoin withdrawal delays on their collateral requirements through September 30.

The next observable test is whether Bitcoin withdrawals complete successfully over the next 48 hours and whether Ethereum and USDT withdrawals open on schedule on September 29 and 30 respectively. Bitget has not stated whether it will impose withdrawal limits or additional verification, nor has it clarified the dispute resolution process if a customer’s funds remain inaccessible after the phased reopening completes on October 2.