Circle and Tether step in to freeze hacker wallet after massive Bitget crypto heist

# Circle and Tether step in to freeze hacker wallet after massive Bitget crypto heist

> Evidence tier: B1
> Evidence type: Independent digital asset media report
> Source: [CoinDesk](https://www.coindesk.com/markets/2026/09/25/circle-and-tether-step-in-to-freeze-hacker-wallet-after-massive-bitget-crypto-heist)
> Published: 2026-09-25
> Captured: 2026-09-25T17:12:09.088Z

## Source summary

CoinDesk reports that Circle and Tether blacklisted a wallet tied to Thursday’s $351.6 million Bitget exploit. The wallet held about $318,000 in USDT and USDC; other exploiter addresses still held more than 63,000 ETH, which issuers cannot freeze. Bitget CEO Gracy Chen attributed the theft to compromised backend infrastructure and spoofed transaction data; the stablecoin freeze covered only a small portion of the reported loss.

## Why it matters

The episode shows that issuers can blacklist some custodial stablecoin balances, but that control does not extend to ETH or recover the overall theft. The amounts are CoinDesk’s report of on-chain balances and the incident, not a final loss audit.

## Key numbers

- **Reported Bitget exploit loss:** $351.6 million
- **USDT and USDC in blacklisted wallet:** about $318,000
- **ETH still held by other exploiter addresses:** more than 63,000 ETH

## Topics and entities

- Industry lane: Web3 & stablecoin payments
- Entities: Bitget / Circle / Tether
- Web3 payments
- Payment infrastructure

## Evidence and credibility note

Independent CoinDesk reporting based on on-chain tracking and statements attributed to Bitget’s CEO and stablecoin issuers. The reported stablecoin freeze is about $318,000, not recovery of the $351.6 million total; attack details remain attributed to the CEO.

Date evidence: Automatically verified from JSON-LD datePublished: 2026-09-25T14:41:53.239Z

## First-party corroboration

No directly corresponding A1 company announcement is currently linked.

## Original-source traceback

[Open the original CoinDesk report](https://www.coindesk.com/markets/2026/09/25/circle-and-tether-step-in-to-freeze-hacker-wallet-after-massive-bitget-crypto-heist)

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This is a structured Payments Hot Markdown source summary derived from external reporting. Use the original link above to read the publisher's article; copyright remains with the original publisher.