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Circle and Tether Freeze Stablecoins Tied to Bitget Hack—But Most Funds Slip Away
Circle and Tether blacklisted a wallet labeled "Bitget Exploiter 8," freezing about $318,000 in USDC and USDT. The attacker had already swapped most funds into ETH, which the issuers cannot freeze.
Published:
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What happened
Circle and Tether blacklisted a wallet labeled "Bitget Exploiter 8," freezing about $318,000 in USDC and USDT. The attacker had already swapped most funds into ETH, which the issuers cannot freeze.
Confirmed
Global impact / market context
Stablecoin issuers can freeze their own tokens when asked, but they have no power over ETH. This shows holders that moving stolen money into a decentralized asset like ETH limits what central issuers can recover.
Analyst inference
The frozen amount, about $318,000, is small next to total stablecoin supply. The case highlights a known pattern: issuers can only lock tokens they control, so attackers often convert to ETH first.
Analyst inference
What to watch
- Circle and Tether blacklisted a wallet labeled "Bitget Exploiter 8" and froze about $318,000 in USDC and USDT. Confirmed
- Watch whether Bitget or law enforcement asks exchanges to block ETH deposits tied to the exploiter, since issuers cannot freeze ETH directly. Proposed
- Watch whether attackers keep using ETH to avoid freezes, which could push exchanges to tighten deposit checks for stolen funds. Analyst inference
Affected assets
- ETH — Ethereum
- USDT — Tether
- USDC — USD Coin