This Altcoin Refused to Freeze the Assets Stolen from Bitget

While efforts continue to track the funds stolen following the security incident at Bitget, it has been reported that the attackers have begun transferring some assets across chains via THORChain. SlowMist’s on-chain tracking platform, MistTrack, stated that the funds were used in exchange and cross-chain bridging transactions via THORChain.

MistTrack previously recalled that a significant portion of the approximately $1.2 billion in funds stolen in the Bybit attack was also moved between chains via THORChain. The platform stated that addresses linked to the Bitget attack have been publicly identified across the industry and are being actively tracked.

According to MistTrack, the fact that funds originating from a publicly known large-scale attack could still be processed through large-scale cross-chain transactions raises a new debate about the responsibility of decentralized protocols. The platform argued that the principle of “decentralization” should not be used as an automatic justification for processing known stolen funds, and that the responsibility that protocols like THORChain should bear in such cases needs to be discussed industry-wide.

Following this announcement, Bitget CEO Gracy Chen stated that the addresses associated with the attackers had been publicly shared and were still being actively monitored, and issued a formal call to THORChain. Chen requested that the protocol reject transactions originating from those addresses.

Chen said that decentralization is a design principle, but it should not be seen as “a shield to facilitate the movement of stolen funds with known origins.”

THORChain responded to the criticism by emphasizing that the protocol operates in a decentralized and permissionless manner, just like Bitcoin, Ethereum, and $BNB Chain. While expressing regret over the Bitget attack, the team questioned, “How much responsibility should Bitcoin, Ethereum, and $BNB Chain bear when processing known stolen funds?”

*This is not investment advice.