THORChain Maintains Neutrality Policy After Bitget Appeal
Following Bitget's September 24 security breach that resulted in losses exceeding $387.5 million, the cryptocurrency exchange appealed to THORChain to prevent the attacker from accessing its decentralized platform. THORChain declined the request, reaffirming its policy against implementing address-specific restrictions.
Bitget CEO Gracy Chen issued a public statement urging THORChain to refuse service to identified attacker addresses, arguing that decentralized principles should not justify facilitating the movement of stolen assets. "Our attacker addresses are publicly listed and actively tracked. We are formally asking THORChain to refuse service to these addresses," Chen stated.
Hacker Converts Stolen ETH to Bitcoin
Blockchain analysis confirmed that on Monday, a wallet address linked to the breach executed 27 completed transactions converting approximately 2,390 ETH (valued near $6.3 million) into 75.2 BTC through THORChain's infrastructure. An additional four conversion attempts involving 400 ETH remained pending. Most transactions were executed in increments of approximately 100 ETH, each valued around $265,000.
THORChain operates as a permissionless cross-chain liquidity protocol that enables cryptocurrency exchanges without centralized intermediaries and does not require identity verification or registration.
THORChain's Response on Neutrality
THORChain representatives responded by drawing parallels to foundational blockchain networks like Bitcoin and Ethereum, stating these systems similarly do not enforce selective fund freezes. The organization clarified that emergency network suspensions exist to safeguard overall system integrity, not to selectively intervene in individual transaction flows.
OKX founder Star Xu challenged THORChain's neutrality comparison, arguing that a protocol capable of pausing operations for internal losses while declining to act on external theft cannot legitimately claim Bitcoin-equivalent neutrality.
Protocol's Previous Actions
In May, THORChain suspended all trading operations after approximately $10.7 million was extracted from one of its treasury vaults. Normal operations resumed on June 22 following a five-week remediation period. THORChain representatives noted that addresses involved in that incident were not subjected to permanent restrictions, maintaining that protective measures for internal infrastructure differ from blocking externally stolen assets.
Bitget's Recovery Efforts
Bitget announced that a $464 million reserve fund will reimburse all impacted users. The platform resumed withdrawal functionality on Monday, beginning with bitcoin at 8:00 UTC. Management established a bounty program offering rewards for information leading to asset recovery.
