By Salma El-Sakka
Billions of dollars in cryptocurrency may have been stolen from Binance, the world's largest crypto exchange, in what could be the biggest hack in the industry's history. The exchange said on Thursday it had frozen $3 billion in assets while investigating a potential security breach, sending bitcoin and other digital tokens tumbling.
Binance Freezes $3 Billion in Assets
Binance co-founder Yi He stated the exchange would cover all hacking losses, though she provided no further details on the incident. The amount frozen could increase as Binance works with law enforcement, token issuers, blockchain intelligence firms, and other partners to trace and freeze additional assets. Former CEO Changpeng Zhao, who no longer runs the company, posted on X that the incident "looked like a hack."
Stablecoin Issuers Freeze Funds
Stablecoin operators Circle and Tether also moved to freeze assets linked to the suspected breach. Tether said it had frozen nearly $1.57 billion, while Circle froze more than $800 million. Ripple froze roughly $200 million in funds, and World Liberty Financial, a crypto firm linked to U.S. President Donald Trump, said it had worked with custodian BitGo to freeze $27 million in stablecoins and about $2 million of its own tokens.
Market Impact
The potential hack, which analytics firm Chainalysis said could be the largest-ever crypto heist, immediately rattled markets in early Asian trading on Friday. Bitcoin fell about 2% to a six-week low of $77,646, ether dropped around 2% to a two-month low of $2,238.76, and Binance's BNB token slid more than 8% to $694. Shares of Coinbase Global declined 4.8%, while those of bitcoin buyer Strategy fell nearly 6% in extended U.S. trading.
Industry Reaction
Bernardo Brites, CEO of Trace Finance, said artificial intelligence is making it harder to counter hacks because vulnerabilities can be found faster than they can be fixed. He predicted users would move away from smaller and medium-sized exchanges that cannot cover a significant hack. Miguel Morel, CEO of blockchain intelligence firm Arkham, said data indicated billions of dollars appeared to have been hacked from Binance by an unknown actor, with the incident beginning around 4:30 p.m. EDT and appearing to be ongoing.
Ongoing Investigation
Binance said it was conducting security checks and would resume withdrawals once the issue was fully resolved, adding that user funds remained safe. The exchange also temporarily suspended trading on its Binance Alpha platform as a precaution. Binance.US, a separate entity, said it was not affected, and Coinbase said it was unaffected and monitoring the situation. The incident adds to a string of crypto thefts; researchers at TRM Labs reported attackers stole $2.9 billion across nearly 150 attacks last year, while Bitget lost roughly $350 million in September.
