Today’s crypto headlines were led by a major exchange breach, a technical proposal to add private transfers to Bitcoin, and cultural and NFT developments across Cardano and Solana. The stories signal both security challenges and ongoing work on privacy and token utility.
Bitget breach confirmed at $387.5 million
Exchange Bitget updated its tally for last Thursday’s exploit, saying losses rose to $387.5 million. Earlier estimates had reported $183 million and then $351.6 million. CEO Gracy Chen said private keys were not taken and that wallet infrastructure was compromised. Bitget suspects a North Korean group based on IP address indicators. Stablecoin issuers Circle and Tether froze a wallet holding roughly $318,000 in stablecoins, but more than 63,000 ETH remain inaccessible. Bitget said its User Protection Fund, which it values at over $464 million, is expected to cover the loss in full.
Officials disclose Bitcoin holdings amid wider adoption
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth disclosed Bitcoin in his 2025 annual financial filing, listing holdings in a Coinbase wallet valued between approximately $16,000 and $65,000. The disclosure noted no purchases or sales exceeding $1,000 during the year. Hegseth also reported a bank account balance above $1 million and sales of defense-company stocks early in 2025. His disclosure makes him the latest member of the Trump administration to reveal Bitcoin ownership, following the President and the Vice President.
Researchers propose Shielded Bitcoin for private BTC transfers
A team at [alloc] init published a design called Shielded Bitcoin to enable private Bitcoin transfers that would conceal sender, recipient and amounts using encrypted notes and zero-knowledge proofs, while avoiding changes to Bitcoin’s consensus rules. The proposal received a positive reaction from Zerocash co-founder Eli Ben-Sasson, though some observers raised concerns about the privacy guarantees of creating a new shielded pool. The idea arrives as Zcash has recently seen increased usage of its shielded transactions, recording a weekly high of 63,000 shielded transactions as ZEC traded above $1,600.
Magic Eden white-hat NFT recovery after Limit Break vulnerability
A white-hat actor moved 23,155 NFTs, valued at more than $5.7 million, out of hundreds of wallets after a vulnerability was found in Limit Break’s Payment Processor V2 protocol, which had been used by Magic Eden. Yuga Labs’ VP of Blockchain, 0xQuit, said the NFTs will be returned to their owners, though the attacker succeeded in stealing $1.7 million in WETH. Magic Eden noted it had stopped using the protocol in October 2024 and that no active listings were affected.
FC Barcelona launches fan platform on Cardano
Football club FC Barcelona and Andamio launched the Barça Fan Lab platform on Cardano, letting fans earn verifiable credentials by taking part in activities. The platform integrates with BarçaID and automatically creates a Cardano wallet for each user; funding comes from Catalyst Fund 13. Following the announcement, ADA’s price rose by about 5%.
What these stories show about crypto’s landscape
The articles collected here highlight familiar dynamics in the crypto sector: custody and infrastructure risks at centralized exchanges, growing institutional and official exposure to crypto assets, and parallel efforts to expand privacy and utility through technical proposals and real-world partnerships. Incidents such as the Limit Break vulnerability and the Bitget exploit underline ongoing operational and security challenges for platforms that handle digital assets.