Bitget Resumes BTC Withdrawals After $388M Hack; Vitalik Hints at Ethereum's Final 'Normal' Fork

Crypto exchange Bitget has resumed Bitcoin withdrawals following a Sept. 24 security breach that compromised nearly $388 million in assets from its hot and warm wallet infrastructure. CEO Gracy Chen confirmed during a Monday AMA that BTC withdrawals on the Bitcoin network and BNB Smart Chain were restored first, with Ether and Tether's USDt to follow pending additional security checks. Bitget revised the stolen figure upward from an initial estimate of $351.6 million after accounting for additional transfers on Zcash and Tron. The attacker continues laundering stolen funds through THORChain, converting assets into ETH to obscure the trail. Cold wallets remained unaffected throughout the incident.

Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin suggested that the network's upcoming Hegotá upgrade, planned for 2027, could be Ethereum's last "normal" fork before development shifts toward more advanced cryptographic architectures. Speaking on Sunday, Buterin explained that Hegotá's features would still be recognizable to anyone familiar with Ethereum circa 2015, but subsequent upgrades will increasingly incorporate recursive STARKs, automated formal verification, optimized consensus mechanisms, and quantum-safe cryptography. He framed PeerDAS — which enables nodes to verify data availability through sampling rather than full downloads — as the inflection point where Ethereum transitions from a traditional blockchain into a "cryptographic world computer" combining onchain verification with decentralized offchain components.

In broader industry commentary, MicroStrategy chairman Michael Saylor argued that an era of digital assets and artificial intelligence demands a "bill of digital rights" rather than restrictive regulations. Separately, Bitcoin traded at $83,854.98, while Monero gained 4.41% to $543.07 and Solana rose 1.99% to $119.61 amid broader altcoin momentum. BNB climbed 1.07% to $769.50, and Hyperliquid's HYPE token added 3.21% to reach $88.85 as DeFi and Web3 sectors continued to attract capital despite ongoing regulatory uncertainty.