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Binance Freezes $3 Billion in Assets Amid Suspected $6.3 Billion Crypto Hack
· Confirmed
In Short: Binance said it was investigating reports of a “potential security issue,” and within hours, crypto firms were freezing assets tied to the episode.
Binance, the world's largest cryptocurrency trading platform, said on Thursday that it has frozen digital assets worth around $3 billion to prevent them from being stolen while it investigates a security issue.
The company has not confirmed a hack but acknowledged reports of a possible security incident. Some crypto experts have estimated the total impact at over $5 billion, with Glassnode, a digital asset advisory firm, estimating the total at $5.3 billion.
Binance's former boss Changpeng Zhao, also known as CZ, said the incident looked like a hack. Circle chief executive Jeremy Allaire said his firm is closely tracking reports of a potential exploit involving Binance and has frozen more than $800 million in assets.
Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino said his firm has frozen around $1.6 billion related to a potential Binance exchange hack. Binance has more than $160 billion in assets under custody.
The news of the possible hack sent Bitcoin's value tumbling by 3.2 percent on Thursday evening, dropping below $79,000. BNB, Binance’s own token, fell from about $739 to a low near $692 before recovering to about $704 by 22:15 GMT.
In coordination with law enforcement, Binance has frozen more than $800 million in USDC associated with the incident and will continue supporting the investigation.
Binance said it is working around the clock and will share a full post-mortem once the investigation is complete. Users' funds are safe, and the company is conducting security checks.
Binance said the amount of funds frozen may continue to increase as its teams work closely with law enforcement and other partners to trace and seize additional assets.
The security incident concerns Binance.com, while much smaller crypto platform Binance.US, which provides trading services specifically for American residents, said its platform is not affected by the issue.
If confirmed as a hack, it would be the biggest crypto hack on record, surpassing the $1.4 billion theft from exchange Bybit in 2025, blamed on North Korean hackers.
Binance said it was investigating reports of a “potential security issue,” and within hours, crypto firms were freezing assets tied to the episode.
Binance said it is dealing with a security incident as users reported that funds were being drained from the crypto exchange’s wallets.
What this adds
The hack could involve over $5 billion, with Glassnode estimating the total impact at $5.3 billion.
Binance may have lost upwards of $5.7 billion in crypto, though the numbers have not been confirmed and it’s possible that the theft is ongoing.
The amount is nearly four times the value of crypto stolen from Dubai-based crypto exchange Bybit in 2025, a record-breaking incident attributed to hackers linked to North Korea.
Background
Some crypto experts have estimated the hack could involve over $5 billion, with Glassnode, a digital asset advisory firm, estimating the total impact at $5.3 billion.
What's confirmed
- Binance's former boss Changpeng Zhao, who is also known as CZ, said the incident looked like hack Circle chief executive Jeremy Allaire said his firm is "closely tracking reports of a potential exploit involving Binance" and that his company has frozen more than $800m in assets linked to the incident.
- Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino said his firm has frozen around $1.6bn "related to a potential Binance exchange hack."
- Binance Drained of $5.5 Billion in Suspected Hack, Tether and Circle Freeze $1.8 Billion At least $5.57 billion in crypto has left wallets linked to Binance across three blockchains in what appears to be a breach of the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange.
- Top crypto exchange Binance is suspected of having been hacked for more than $5 billion, according to data from the on-chain intelligence platform Arkham.
- Binance has not confirmed that its platform was hacked, but acknowledged reports of a possible security incident and said an investigation was underway.
- BNB has bounced off its low and bitcoin is steady near $78,800, which suggests traders see the freezes and CZ’s pledge as limiting the damage to Binance itself.
- Binance said the amount of funds frozen may continue to increase as its teams work closely with law enforcement and other partners to trace and seize additional assets.
- Binance is the world's largest crypto exchange by daily trading volumes.
- Binance is investigating a major security incident after billions of dollars in crypto assets moved from wallets associated with the exchange.
- Binance said it was conducting security checks and would resume withdrawals once the issue was fully resolved.
- Binance Investigates Possible Hack, Crypto Firms Freeze $2.5 Billion In Funds Binance, the world's largest cryptocurrency exchange, said on Thursday that it is investigating reports of a possible security breach.
- "In coordination with law enforcement, we have frozen more than 800M USDC associated with the incident and will continue supporting the investigation."
What's still developing
- A Binance-labeled wallet moved 167,464 ETH + 63 tokens, including 1.615B USDT, just 3m24s after a signed delegation was installed.
- The cryptocurrency exchange Binance mobilized an urgent and wide-reaching response Thursday to what it called a “security issue,” after a series of very large transfers on the platform raised fears that it had been hacked.
- Bitcoin was down about 4.3%, while Ethereum lost 4.6% of its value.
- Binance Investigates Suspicious Crypto Transfers Worth Up to $5.8 Billion US Probes Suspected Hack Behind Military Base Freezer Failures 484,142 Exposed Cloud Buckets Contain 18 Billion Files U.S.
- Binance was founded in 2017 by Zhao, who in 2023 pleaded guilty to a felony related to his failure to prevent money laundering on the platform and stepped down as CEO.
- Binance spent October 29 telling customers it was looking into a “potential security issue” while stablecoin issuers froze billions of dollars across the market.
- BNB, Binance’s own token used for trading-fee discounts and fees on its affiliated BNB Chain, fell from about $739 to a low near $692 before recovering to about $704 by 22:15 GMT, CryptoTicker data showed.
- Total on the hack is at least $5.57B across 3 chains (likely more) Tether has started freezing and this time even Circle acted and managed to freeze 800M in a single wallet.
- Three minutes earlier, an address funded through Tornado Cash, a mixer that scrambles the trail of crypto payments, submitted a delegation for a Binance hot wallet using EIP-7702, an Ethereum feature that lets an ordinary wallet run smart-contract code.
- Binance sufre el mayor hackeo cripto de la historia con más de 5.600 millones El posible ataque a Binance superaría los 3.500 millones de dólares, el mayor hackeo cripto These headlines describe reported market effects or concern following the suspected breach.
- According to Binance, hackers likely gained access to its servers to make unauthorised transactions.
- “7702 lets a normal wallet execute delegated code. The delegation persists; that code can authorize later transfers without another signature from the wallet,” Odysseas Lamtzidi, founder of Phylax Systems wrote on X. 1/4 EIP-7702 can turn the wallet itself into the sweeper.