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Binance Freezes $3 Billion in Response to Suspected $6.3 Billion Hack
· Confirmed
In Short: 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.
Cryptocurrency giant Binance 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 that its exchange was hacked but acknowledged reports of a possible security incident and said an investigation was underway.
Binance's former boss Changpeng Zhao, also known as CZ, said the incident looked like a hack.
Glassnode, a digital asset advisory firm, estimated the hack concerns a total of $5.3 billion in crypto.
Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino said his firm has frozen around $1.6 billion related to a potential Binance exchange 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 linked to the incident.
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 said it is working around the clock and will share a full post-mortem once the investigation is complete.
The company said users' funds are safe and urged users to remain cautious of scams and not to trust unofficial links, messages, or requests for account information.
According to blockchain analytics firm Chainalysis, the estimated value of the stolen cryptocurrency is approximately $5.912 billion.
Binance said the estimated total impact of the hack sits at around $6.3 billion.
The hack originated from a compromised laptop, which allowed an attacker to gain access to a service container and submit unauthorized withdrawal transactions.
Background
Cryptocurrency giant Binance said Thursday that $6.3 billion of digital assets were impacted by what it described as the largest hack in history.
However, the BBC noted that Binance has not specified how much was potentially stolen, while crypto experts estimated the figure at over $5 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.
- Binance said the amount frozen could increase as it worked with law enforcement agencies, token issuers, blockchain intelligence firms and other industry partners to trace and freeze additional assets.
- 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 on October 29 that it was investigating reports of a “potential security issue,” and within hours crypto firms were freezing assets tied to the episode.
- 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.
What's still developing
- Binance has not said how much was potentially stolen but some crypto experts have put the figure at over $5bn.
- 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.
- By some estimates, 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.
- In 2025, hackers stole a record $1.4 billion in crypto in a single breach from exchange Bybit, blamed on North Korean hackers.
- Some $3 billion (2.7 billion euros) had been frozen in response to the suspected hack.
- 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.
- The cryprocurrency exchange Binance is investigating a suspected hack after billions of dollars moved from wallets associated with the exchange on October 29, 2026.
- Outside investigators have estimated the suspicious transfers at up to $5.8 billion, a figure that would make this the largest cryptocurrency theft publicly reported if confirmed.
- Binance co-founder Yi He later disclosed that Ripple, the cryptocurrency company associated with XRP and RLUSD, had helped prevent the movement of another $200 million in funds potentially linked to the suspected attack.
- 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.