On the latest Ripple news, an attacker tied to Bitget’s roughly $387.5 million breach has moved about 102 million stolen XRP, worth around $157 million. The funds left three of the five wallets that first held them. Roughly $75 million in XRP reportedly remains in the original accounts. Why can’t they be frozen?
Ripple has no way to freeze those coins. XRP is the ledger’s native asset, not a token created by an issuer.
This is more than a story about a hacker moving funds. It shows a structural limit built into the XRP Ledger in real time. Transparency does not mean recoverability; once native XRP sits in a wallet the attacker controls.
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Ripple News: How Did 54 Million XRP Leave the Bitget Hacker’s Wallets?
BITGET $350M HACK: POST MORTEM
Between 18:31 and 21:23 UTC yesterday, Bitget was drained for $350M across 7 chains, with 5 wallets compromised. Arkham has labelled 26 hacker addresses so far.
Here’s what happened after the attack: pic.twitter.com/Jc6xLRdJ5U
— Arkham (@arkham) September 25, 2026
Nearly 103 million XRP was taken from Bitget on Thursday, September 24, and split across five accounts, a theft that has dominated Ripple news since. By 12:41 UTC on Saturday, September 26, two wallets that had each started with 20 million XRP were down to about 23 and 55 XRP. A third had fallen to roughly 5.8 million XRP.
The pace of the drain accelerated overnight. At 04:32 UTC Saturday, about 70 million XRP remained across the original accounts; roughly eight hours later, the balance had fallen to about 49 million.
One attempted transfer of about 521,000 XRP failed for insufficient funds before an identical amount was sent from a different wallet roughly an hour later, illustrating native XRP Ledger transfers and external-wallet functionality moving directly between attacker-controlled addresses.
In total, about 54 million XRP has left the original holding accounts, though the movements show distribution rather than confirmed liquidation.
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Why Can’t Ripple Block the Remaining $75 Million in XRP?
XRP is the currency built into the XRP Ledger and it’s the only native asset. The ledger does have a freeze feature. However, it applies only to tokens issued on top of the network through trust lines.
This distinction shapes what recovery looks like from here. If an exchange receives the stolen XRP, it can restrict the recipient’s account and block withdrawals. But it cannot touch the coins while they stay in an attacker-held wallet on the ledger.
Stablecoins work differently. Circle and Tether have already frozen about $320,000 in USDC and USDT linked to the breach. They used the blacklist controls built into their issuer-controlled tokens. XRP has no such issuer, and therefore no such lever.
XRP itself lives directly in accounts that no single party can freeze, Ripple included. That leaves the company with no built-in way to stop the attacker from spending the coins still in the remaining wallets.
Recovery now depends mostly on where the XRP goes next. The key question is whether it lands on an exchange that is willing and able to lock the receiving account.
How is Bitget Covering the $387.5 Million Loss?
Bitget will begin resuming withdrawals in orderly phases following the security incident identified on September 24.
The vulnerability involved in the incident has been identified and remediated.
Bitget’s security and technical teams have since been conducting additional… https://t.co/VZu59GnLAN
— Bitget (@bitget) September 26, 2026
On Friday, September 25, Bitget raised its total theft estimate to $387.5 million. The update added Zcash and TRON transfers missed in the first count. The exchange said the revision reflected more complete tracing, not a second attack.
Bitget says its protection fund covers the loss and that customer balances are unaffected. Withdrawals will resume in stages:
- Bitcoin: from September 28
- Ether: from September 29
- USDT: from September 30
- Remaining tokens: from October 2
XRP traded around $1.54 at the time of the report. That is down about 4% over 24 hours but still up roughly 9% on the week.
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Disclaimer: Coinspeaker is committed to providing unbiased and transparent reporting. This article aims to deliver accurate and timely information but should not be taken as financial or investment advice. Since market conditions can change rapidly, we encourage you to verify information on your own and consult with a professional before making any decisions based on this content.
Daniel Frances is a technical writer and Web3 educator specializing in macroeconomics and DeFi mechanics. A crypto native since 2017, Daniel leverages his background in on-chain analytics to author evidence-based reports and deep-dive guides. He holds certifications from The Blockchain Council, and is dedicated to providing “information gain” that cuts through market hype to find real-world blockchain utility.
