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Binance Investigates Potential $6.3 Billion Crypto Theft
Confirmed
In Short: Binance, the world's largest cryptocurrency exchange, is investigating a potential security breach that may have resulted in a $6.3 billion crypto theft.
The company said its security teams are reviewing all relevant information urgently and will provide updates through official Binance channels.
Binance founder Changpeng Zhao, who stepped down as CEO after pleading guilty to a felony related to money laundering, said user funds are safe but acknowledged the situation looks like a hack.
Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino said on X that the company froze the equivalent of more than $1.5 billion in currency related to 'a potential Binance exchange hack.'
Binance said its initial investigation suggests that the security incident may involve a compromised DevOps engineer's laptop, which allowed an attacker to gain access to a service container and submit unauthorized withdrawal transactions.
Binance has not confirmed that its platform was hacked, but acknowledged reports of a possible security incident and said an investigation was underway.
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 said $2.54 billion in assets linked to the incident has been frozen so far, and the figure could rise as funds are traced.
Binance said it will share more technical details once the investigation is complete and when the facts are 'fully verified.'
The company said it is working closely with law enforcement, issuers, blockchain intelligence firms, and industry partners to trace and freeze additional assets.
Binance has confirmed that it is dealing with a security incident as users reported that funds were being drained from the crypto exchange’s wallets.
Binance said it has worked with blockchain partners to freeze affected assets, with roughly $3 billion frozen on-chain so far.
What this adds
Binance reported a security issue that resulted in the theft of over $6 billion in crypto assets, causing bitcoin prices to drop.
Binance, the world's largest cryptocurrency exchange, is investigating a potential security issue that may have resulted in a $6.3 billion crypto theft.
Background
Binance reported a security issue that resulted in the theft of over $6 billion in crypto assets, causing bitcoin prices to drop.
Binance, the world's largest cryptocurrency exchange, is investigating a potential security issue that may have resulted in a $6.3 billion crypto theft.
What's confirmed
- Binance, the world's largest cryptocurrency exchange, is investigating a potential security issue that appears to be a hack.
- It wasn’t immediately clear the extent of the damage hackers might have been able to cause, and Binance had not explicitly confirmed that funds had been pilfered.
- Binance founder Changpeng Zhao, who stepped down as CEO after pleading guilty to a felony, said user funds are safe but acknowledged the situation looks like a hack.
- The company said its teams are “working around the clock” to resolve the issue.
- Binance assures users their funds are safe and is reviewing information urgently.
- "Rest assured that user funds are completely safe," a Binance spokesperson said in a statement.
- "Our security teams are reviewing all relevant information with urgency, and we will provide updates through official Binance channels as soon as we have verified information," the statement continued.
- Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino said on X that the company froze the equivalent of more than $1.5 billion in currency related to "a potential Binance exchange hack."
- "Binance's initial investigation suggests that the security incident may involve a compromised DevOps engineer's laptop, which allowed an attacker to gain access to a service container and submit unauthorized withdrawal transactions," the company wrote.
- He also said that the security breach appeared to be an “injection attack” on the front end. it appears to be an injection attack on the front end. injecting incorrect tx, but showing a valid tx for the user to sign. — CZ 🔶 BNB (@cz_binance) October 29, 2026 Changpeng founded Binance in 2017.
- "as a shareholder, I expect all user funds will be fully covered."
- "We have found no evidence of any wallet private key leak," it added.
What's still developing
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- By some estimates, Binance may have lost upward of $5.7 billion in crypto, though the numbers have not been confirmed and it’s possible that the theft is ongoing.
- Binance is investigating a suspected hack after wallets linked to it on the Ethereum, Bitcoin, and TRON networks saw outflows of around $5.7 billion, according to The Kobeissi Letter.
- Binance spent October 29 telling customers it was looking into a “potential security issue” while stablecoin issuers froze billions of dollars across the market.
- For the earlier snapshot of the withdrawal pause, see our first report on the Binance withdrawal pause and the reported $3.52 billion outflow.
- In response to the potential breach, the exchange has frozen around $2.5 billion in funds to prevent further theft, although independent confirmation of this action and the details surrounding the alleged theft are still pending.
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- According to blockchain analytics platform Chainalysis, the estimated value of the stolen cryptocurrency is approximately $5.912 billion.