By Salma El-Sakka
Binance said Thursday it was investigating a “potential security issue” after a series of very large transfers on the platform raised concerns among traders, but the exchange insisted all customer funds were safe.
A spokesperson said security teams were reviewing all relevant information with urgency and urged users to remain cautious of scams. Binance is the world’s largest cryptocurrency trading platform by volume, with hundreds of thousands of users holding billions of dollars in digital assets.
Stablecoin Issuers Freeze Assets
In response to the reports, stablecoin issuers Tether and Circle moved to freeze funds linked to the incident. Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino said the company froze more than $1.567 billion of its USDT tokens “related to a potential Binance exchange hack.” Circle CEO Jeremy Allaire said the firm froze more than 800 million USDC and was coordinating with law enforcement.
Founder Weighs In
Binance founder Changpeng Zhao, who stepped down as CEO in 2023 and later received a presidential pardon for anti-money-laundering violations, wrote on X that the activity “does look like a hack on Binance” and expressed confidence that user funds would be fully covered.
The outflows come as cybersecurity defenses worldwide are on high alert for novel attacks fueled by advances in artificial intelligence. In 2025, Coinbase disclosed a breach in which thieves stole customer data and sought a $20 million extortion payment, which the exchange refused.
