Bitget hacker launders $6.3 million via THORChain after freeze refusal

The attacker executed 27 swaps between 03:55 and 06:23 UTC on Monday, converting approximately 2,390 ETH into 75.2 BTC. These assets were funneled to a single receiving address, bypassing the security measures Bitget attempted to enforce following the September 24 hack. Bitget CEO Gracy Chen had publicly urged the network to intervene, stating that decentralization should not serve as a shield for stolen funds.

THORChain rejected the request, clarifying that its emergency protocols are designed to halt entire network operations rather than selectively blacklisting specific wallets. The platform maintained that its emergency controls cannot target individual transactions without disrupting the entire user base. This refusal highlights the friction between centralized exchange security and the architecture of decentralized protocols, which lack the administrative oversight to freeze assets on demand. While Bitget has secured cooperation from stablecoin issuers like Circle and Tether to freeze funds, the attacker continues to utilize cross-chain liquidity pools to obscure the trail of the stolen capital.