Bitget resumes Bitcoin withdrawals as hacker swaps ETH via THORChain

Bitget resumes Bitcoin withdrawals as hacker swaps ETH via THORChain

Crypto exchange Bitget is resuming withdrawals after a security breach affecting nearly $388 million in assets, as the attacker continues moving stolen crypto through THORChain.

Bitget said it resumed Bitcoin (BTC) withdrawals Monday after suspending them following last week’s security incident, with additional assets and networks set to follow over the coming days.

The Sept. 24 breach compromised part of Bitget’s hot and warm wallet infrastructure, while its cold wallets remained secure, according to the exchange.

Bitget later revised the stolen amount from $351.6 million to $387.5 million after accounting for additional transfers on Zcash and Tron.

Ether and USDT withdrawals next as security checks progress

BTC withdrawals on the Bitcoin network and the BNB Smart Chain resumed first, Bitget CEO Gracy Chen said during a Monday ask-me-anything session.

“We restored BTC first because the withdrawal pipeline is the first to be completed,” Chen said, adding that Ether (ETH) and Tether’s USDt (USDT) would follow as security checks progress.

Under Bitget’s announced schedule, ETH withdrawals are set to resume Tuesday across Ethereum, BNB Smart Chain, Arbitrum, Base and Optimism, followed by USDT on Wednesday across Ethereum, BNB Smart Chain, Solana and Tron. Withdrawals for other assets and peer-to-peer services are scheduled to return Friday.

The schedule applies to all users, with no priority access for institutions, VIP customers or Bitget employees, Chen said.

THORChain says network halt cannot selectively freeze funds

Bitget CEO Gracy Chen has called on THORChain, a decentralized protocol for swapping assets between blockchains, to refuse services to addresses linked to the attack.

Lookonchain reported Monday that the attacker was swapping Ether for Bitcoin through THORChain, as Arkham data showed ETH linked to the attacker flowing into THORChain vaults.

THORChain said Monday that its network halt is an emergency security mechanism that affects the protocol broadly and “is not a selective freeze of specific funds or an individual swap.”

Crypto author Anndy Lian said THORChain can halt trading, stop outbound transactions or pause a connected chain, but those measures affect users broadly. The protocol has no built-in address blacklist, he said, limiting its ability to block specific addresses.

 

 

Source: https://ct.com/news/bitget-btc-withdrawal-hacker-eth-swap-thorchain

 

Anndy Lian is an early blockchain adopter and experienced serial entrepreneur who is known for his work in the government sector. He is a best selling book author. The latest book is Web4: The Age of Autonomous Intelligence.

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THORChain’s decentralized model faces backlash – ‘The industry is watching’

THORChain’s decentralized model faces backlash – ‘The industry is watching’

THORChain saw a considerable spike in trading activity and fees between the 24th and 26th of September.

Meanwhile, its swap volume reached $1.72 billion by the 26th of September, up from $610 million in August.

At the same time, THORChain’s fees rose to $479,033.13 from $145,464.59. However, the news is not as good as it appears to be.

As the surge in on-chain activity happened after the recent Bitget security incident, wherein the stolen funds were reportedly laundered via THORChain to swap and transfer assets between blockchains.

Slamming the exchange, Bitget CEO Gracy Chen argued,

Our attacker addresses are publicly listed and actively tracked. We are formally asking @THORChain to refuse service to these addresses. Decentralization is a design principle, not a shield for facilitating known stolen funds. The industry is watching.

THORChain makes its case

THORChain’s response was based on the distinction between a permissionless blockchain protocol and a centralized exchange. For context, on a centralized exchange such as an ordinary crypto trading platform, the company can maintain a blacklist.

But THORChain does not operate in exactly that way.

THORChain is decentralized and permissionless like Bitcoin, Ethereum, and BNB Chain. What responsibility should Bitcoin, Ethereum, and BNB Chain bear when handling known stolen funds?

OKX founder stands in THORChain’s support

But Mingxing Xu, aka Star XU, OKX’s founder, is arguing that THORChain should not be compared directly with Bitcoin or Ethereum’s base-layer consensus.

Xu further explained that Bitcoin’s network does not have a group of people sitting together and deciding whether a Bitcoin transaction should be signed. Instead, it uses Threshold Signature Scheme (TSS) vaults.

The assets that are held within THORChain’s cross-chain infrastructure are controlled through a group of participating validators/nodes. Therefore, a transaction involving those assets requires a threshold of those participants to provide signatures.

Hence, he said,

Bitcoin cannot be stopped. THORChain can—it simply chooses when to do so.

Anndy Lian, an all-rounded business strategist in Asia, added,

Blaming @THORChain and saying they are not helpful and decentralized will not solve the problems.

RUNE’s price action and more

Despite these criticisms, THORChain’s native token RUNE stood strong, trading at $0.7908 at press time after a hike of 15.8% in the past 24 hours.

As of now, withdrawals remain suspended as Bitget investigates the breach and works with law enforcement and blockchain-security firms.


Final Summary

  • BitGet’s CEO, OKX founder, and many in the crypto industry are slamming THORChain’s decentralized nature.
  • But in reality, THORChain is different because it uses Threshold Signature Scheme (TSS) vaults.

 

 

 

Source: https://ambcrypto.com/thorchains-decentralized-model-faces-backlash-the-industry-is-watching/

Anndy Lian is an early blockchain adopter and experienced serial entrepreneur who is known for his work in the government sector. He is a best selling book author. The latest book is Web4: The Age of Autonomous Intelligence.

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