Bitcoin Falls Below $84K as Hot US PMI Data Meets Bitget's $352M Hack

Bitget Confirms $352 Million Breach, Points to North Korea

Crypto exchange Bitget disclosed on Thursday that roughly $351.6 million was drained from its hot and warm wallets in an overnight security breach, one of the largest exchange hacks of the year. CEO Gracy Chen said the attacker did not steal private keys but instead compromised a backend system within Bitget's wallet infrastructure, using it to spoof transaction data and trick the exchange's own authorization process into approving unauthorized transfers.

Bitget said its offline cold wallets, which hold the bulk of customer funds, were never touched, and that the outflow has since been fully contained. The company confirmed the loss will be covered by its User Protection Fund, which holds more than $464 million, and that deposits and trading remain open even as withdrawals stay paused pending a security review.

Chen said a preliminary investigation pointed toward North Korean state-sponsored hackers, citing IP addresses linked to VPN infrastructure previously associated with the group. Blockchain trackers have reportedly observed stolen funds being converted into Ethereum and routed through a privacy mixer. If confirmed, the incident would mark another entry in a long list of exchange breaches attributed to North Korean actors, whose stolen-crypto operations remain a persistent concern for US regulators and the broader digital-asset industry.

Bitcoin Retreats as Hot US PMI Data Fuels Rate-Hike Bets

Bitcoin's price action told a parallel story on Thursday. The preliminary US September composite PMI came in at 58.4, the fastest pace of private-sector expansion since 2021, while the survey's input-prices gauge hit its highest level since October 2022. The stronger-than-expected reading pushed market pricing for a Federal Reserve rate hike in October to roughly 70%, according to CME data, and sent Treasury yields sharply higher, with the 10-year yield climbing back above 5% and the 5-year yield touching its highest level since 2007.

Higher rates weighed on risk assets across the board. All three major US equity indices closed lower, ending the Nasdaq's brief streak of record highs, while gold slid below $4,300 and silver dropped more than 3%. Bitcoin, which had touched $87,000 earlier in the week for its highest level since January, retreated toward $84,000 before finding buying interest in the $83,600–$83,800 range and stabilizing modestly above $84,000. Traders are treating that zone as the key support level to watch heading into next week.

What It Means for Investors

Together, the two developments underline how exposed crypto markets remain to both macroeconomic surprises and infrastructure risk. A hawkish shift in Fed expectations is enough to knock several percentage points off Bitcoin's price in a single session, while a single exchange breach can erase hundreds of millions of dollars in minutes regardless of where the broader market is trending. For US investors, the combination is a reminder to watch upcoming Fed commentary and jobless-claims data closely, while treating exchange custody — hot-wallet exposure in particular — as an ongoing risk factor rather than a solved problem.