Two security stories landed hard this week, and together they tell a story worth paying attention to.
Bitget Hit by Suspected $352M Hack
Crypto exchange Bitget detected unauthorized transfers totaling nearly $352 million and temporarily halted withdrawals, according to Bitcoin Magazine. The transfers are described as suspected — meaning investigators are still working to confirm whether this was an external attack, an inside job, or something else. What is confirmed: the funds moved, and users cannot currently access their accounts to withdraw.
At $352 million, this would rank among the larger exchange breaches in recent years. For context, the exchange holds customer funds in custodial wallets, meaning users do not control their own private keys. When something goes wrong on the exchange's side, users have no independent way to protect themselves.
Details are still emerging. Bitget has not issued a full public post-mortem as of this writing.
A Phishing Case Ends in a 12-Year Sentence
Separately, a Brooklyn man named Ronald Spektor, 23, was sentenced to 12 years in federal prison for stealing $16 million from Coinbase customers through social engineering, also reported by Bitcoin Magazine. Spektor used phishing techniques — impersonating Coinbase support staff — to trick victims into handing over account credentials and then draining their holdings.
This case is a useful reminder that most Bitcoin theft does not involve sophisticated code. It involves convincing a real person to trust the wrong voice on the phone or click the wrong link. The sentence is notably stiff, which may reflect prosecutors making an example of the case.
What These Stories Share
Both incidents center on the same underlying risk: custodial control. In the Bitget case, users trusted the exchange to hold their funds securely. In the Coinbase phishing case, users trusted what appeared to be legitimate support. In both situations, that trust was exploited.
Security professionals have long argued that the safest way to hold Bitcoin is in self-custody — a hardware wallet you control, with a private key no one else can access. That advice is not new, but incidents like these keep making the case.
A Broader Week for Bitcoin
Away from the security headlines, U.S. spot Bitcoin ETFs flipped positive for the year. According to CoinDesk, ETFs had been down as much as $5.8 billion in net outflows at one point in July. As of Thursday, that had turned into roughly $800 million in net inflows for 2026. Daily inflows slowed to $191 million on Thursday after a six-day streak totaling $2.8 billion, per Cointelegraph — a natural cooling-off after a strong run.
Bitcoin itself is trading near $84,471, holding steady below $85,000 as bond market turbulence eases. Treasury yields pulled back from multi-decade highs, and roughly $14 billion in Bitcoin options expired on Deribit today, according to CoinDesk.
- Bitget halts withdrawals after ~$352M in suspected unauthorized transfers
- Ronald Spektor sentenced to 12 years for $16M Coinbase phishing scheme
- Bitcoin ETFs turn net positive for 2026 at ~$800M in inflows
- BTC holds near $84,471 as bond volatility cools
When donating Bitcoin to charity, using a platform that sends funds directly from your own wallet — rather than routing them through a third-party custodian — keeps your money under your control right up until the moment it reaches the cause you care about.