Bitcoin Stays Flat as Altcoins Recover After Bitget Hack
Altcoins like Chainlink and Bittensor pushed the market higher, while Bitget paused withdrawals after a $351.6 million hack during a security review.
Key Takeaways
- Bitcoin stayed mostly flat around $84,342 on Friday, while 93 of the 100 CoinDesk 100 components rose over 24 hours.
- Altcoins benefited from rotation away from Bitcoin; the altcoin season index climbed to 56, the highest level in more than three months.
- The $351.6 million Bitget hack barely disrupted the market, while withdrawals remain paused for now during a security review.
Bitcoin barely moved on Friday and hovered around $84,342 (€74,200), while the rest of the crypto market moved higher more broadly. Of the 100 CoinDesk 100 components, 93 were higher over the past 24 hours, while altcoins benefited from a clear rotation away from Bitcoin.
Altcoins Take the Lead
The shift fits a pattern that often shows up after a strong Bitcoin rally. Bitcoin rose earlier this week from below $63,000 (€55,400) in August to nearly $87,000 (€76,500) on Tuesday and then mostly moved sideways. That gave more room to more speculative tokens, especially now that the cost of holding a long position has gone up.
CoinMarketCap's altcoin season index stood at 56 out of 100, up from 45 a week earlier and 38 a month ago. That is the highest level in more than three months. Chainlink, Internet Computer and Bittensor pushed the CoinDesk Computing Index up 9.5%, while the DeFi Select Index rose 8.7%. Both indices outperformed the broader benchmark by a wide margin.
Bitget Hack Does Not Hit the Market Right Away
The biggest exchange hack of the past few months seemed to barely shake market sentiment. Bitget lost $351.6 million (€309 million) after attackers managed to exploit a backend system and used manipulated transaction data to trigger the exchange's authorization process. According to CEO Gracy Chen, a compromise of private keys has been ruled out, but withdrawals remain suspended for now during a security review.
The attack once again highlights how vulnerable crypto exchanges remain, especially around hot and warm wallet infrastructure. Bitget said its $464 million (€408 million) User Protection Fund should be able to cover the damage, although the makeup and immediate liquidity of that fund have not been independently confirmed.
Why This Matters for Europe
For European crypto investors, this matters mainly because the market is showing two things at once: a strong rotation into altcoins and a stubborn security risk at major platforms. That could put more focus on how exchanges manage their wallets, authorizations, and customer funds, especially now that MiCA and stricter oversight rules in Europe are raising the bar. It also shows that a major hack does not automatically lead to broad panic if the market is already in a more risk-on phase.
The broader altcoin rally also fits that picture: selective rotation into tokens with strong narratives had already shown that investors are not only looking at Bitcoin, but also at projects with their own catalysts.
