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OKX founder Star Xu has challenged THORChain’s claim that it operates like a fully decentralized blockchain. The dispute followed reports that funds linked to the Bitget hack moved through the cross-chain network. Bitget wants help stopping the attacker, while THORChain says its permissionless design does not allow it to reject selected users.
The debate comes as Bitget traces assets taken from its wallets and prepares to restore withdrawals. Its confirmed estimate now stands at approximately USD 387.5 million.
Bitget detected unauthorized transfers from some hot wallets at 18:31 UTC on September 24. It initially put the affected amount at USD 351.6 million and paused withdrawals. The exchange said its cold wallets remained secure and its protection fund held more than USD 464 million.
Further tracing raised the amount sent to attacker-controlled addresses to USD 387.5 million. Bitget said the revision included Zcash and Tron transfers missing from its first calculation. It did not represent new transfers after the breach was contained. The exchange said Mandiant and SlowMist were assisting its investigation.
Bitget has scheduled Bitcoin withdrawals to resume on September 28, followed by ETH on September 29 and USDT on September 30. It plans to restore other tokens, fiat withdrawals and peer-to-peer services on October 2. Those dates remain a schedule for restoration, rather than confirmation that withdrawals have resumed.
Bitget CEO Gracy Chen asked THORChain to refuse transactions from addresses linked to the attacker. The request brought attention to the network’s role in moving assets between blockchains. It also raised a practical question about whether its operators could act on publicly flagged wallets.
In a post, Xu disputed THORChain’s comparison with Bitcoin and Ethereum. He argued that its validators jointly control assets held in vaults through a threshold-signing system.
Under that system, a required group of validators can authorize transfers. Xu said their role makes THORChain an intermediary, even though no single validator controls a vault.
THORChain’s official account rejected that view. It described the network as decentralized and permissionless, and questioned whether base-layer blockchains should face the same demands when stolen assets pass through them. The two sides therefore dispute both the network’s degree of control and what responsibility follows from it.
Circle and Tether froze about USD 318,000 in USDC and USDT at a wallet linked to the Bitget attack. The wallet held roughly 99,990 USDC and 218,023 USDT when the issuers blocked the tokens. Issuer controls can stop those tokens from moving, but they do not give Circle or Tether control over ETH held at the same address.
Bitget has also launched a recovery bounty program. It offers eligible parties 5% of affected funds they help freeze or recover. The exchange has published attacker addresses and a live tracing dashboard for firms following the transfers.
The confirmed freeze covers a small share of Bitget’s USD 387.5 million estimate. Further recovery depends on where the assets move and whether the services handling them can restrict transfers. Bitget’s September 28 update is scheduled to address the investigation and withdrawal restoration.
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