Bitget hacker moves about $83 million in XRP that Ripple cannot freeze

The hacker behind Bitget's $388 million breach moved about $83 million in stolen XRP from three holding wallets. Another $75 million remains in accounts that cannot be frozen under the network's existing rules. Nearly 103 million XRP was taken from Bitget on Thursday and divided among five accounts. By 12:41 UTC Saturday, two accounts that initially held 20 million XRP each had been reduced to about 23 and 55 tokens. A third account held about 5.8 million XRP. XRP is the currency built into the XRP Ledger. The network lets companies freeze tokens they issue on it. That power does not extend to XRP itself. Ripple has no built-in way to block the attacker from spending those coins. Recovery efforts depend partly on where the stolen XRP goes next. An exchange receiving stolen XRP can restrict the recipient's account and prevent withdrawals. An exchange cannot freeze the coins while they remain in a wallet controlled by the attacker.