On September 30, Bitget announced the restoration of its Protection Fund to over $300 million, successfully absorbing the financial fallout from a security breach that occurred on September 24. The exchange characterizes this fund as an extra layer of protection for users, distinct from the reserves that back individual account balances.
According to the official announcement, the fund took on roughly $388 million in financial impact from the incident, ensuring that customer balances remained intact and accurate. The exchange met its September 28 pledge to restore the fund to a minimum of $300 million within seven days, finishing the replenishment two days ahead of schedule.
The announcement did not specify the exact amount of new capital injected to achieve this recovery. Additionally, Bitget’s fund page notes that its displayed valuation is calculated using asset prices at midnight UTC each day.
What the restored safety net covers
Under the published terms of the Protection Fund, users are eligible to file claims if their accounts are compromised or if assets are stolen or lost due to platform-wide incidents outside of their personal actions or trading behavior.
The exchange reserves the right to evaluate each claim and conduct investigations into affected accounts or assets, with final outcomes dependent on the results of these assessments.
Simply meeting the criteria to submit a claim does not guarantee the reimbursement of any specific loss. The announced replenishment of the fund does not bypass this evaluation process, nor does it imply that compensation has already been finalized.
Bitget states that customer reserves fully back covered account balances, with the Protection Fund serving as an additional financial safeguard. A separate reserve report shows an overall ratio of 131% across 19 covered assets, with each individual asset exceeding 100%, based on a snapshot captured at 09:00 UTC on September 29.
It is important to note that a 2023 advisory from the PCAOB’s Office of the Investor Advocate highlighted that proof-of-reserves reports are not audits. These reports may omit liabilities or borrowed assets and cannot guarantee the future availability of assets.
Withdrawal services are being restored progressively according to a specific asset and network schedule. According to Bitget’s September 30 service update, USDT withdrawals have been reopened on Ethereum, BSC, Solana, and Tron networks, with service notices confirming availability across these platforms.
The exchange’s recovery timeline schedules the remaining cryptocurrencies, fiat, and peer-to-peer services for October 2 at 08:00 UTC. Users waiting for these services will encounter a separate milestone from the Protection Fund restoration that Bitget has reported.
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