Binance reports $6.3 billion security breach as market prices tumble

Oct 30, 6:18 AM2 min readCovered by 8 outlets

Drafted by AI from the sources below, fact-checked by the Ajako Taja Editorial Team · How we use AI

AI Summary

Binance investigates a potential record-breaking $6.3 billion security breach as industry partners move to freeze billions in stolen digital assets.

Binance, the global leader in cryptocurrency trading, has halted operations to investigate a suspected security breach with a projected impact of $6.3 billion.

The exchange disclosed the incident on Thursday, with its Latin American social media account identifying the total financial impact at roughly $6.3 billion. Although the company issued several conflicting statements regarding the status of assets, co-founder Yi He asserted that Binance would compensate for all losses resulting from the intrusion. Former chief executive Changpeng Zhao, who remains the firm's majority owner, also characterized the event as a likely hack.

A preliminary probe suggests the breach originated from a DevOps engineer's compromised laptop, which permitted an intruder to reach a service container and trigger unauthorized withdrawals. Binance clarified that it found no proof that private wallet keys were exposed during the incident. At approximately 0030 GMT on Friday, the platform announced a temporary freeze on all deposits and withdrawals to facilitate security audits and cooperate with law enforcement.

In a coordinated industry response, approximately $3 billion in digital assets have been frozen on-chain. Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino confirmed his company locked about $1.6 billion in USDT, while Circle chief Jeremy Allaire noted that over $800 million in USDC had been secured. According to reports from France 24 and Deutsche Welle, the status of the remaining $3.3 billion has not yet been clarified by the exchange.

The news triggered a sharp decline in the digital asset market, with Bitcoin dropping over 3% to reach a six-week low of $76,368. The price of Ether and Binance's own BNB token also saw significant losses. In the United States, equity markets reacted with Coinbase Global seeing a 4.8% decrease in value, while Strategy, a major bitcoin holder, experienced a drop of nearly 6% during after-hours trading.

Background

The scale of this incident could exceed the previous record of a $1.5 billion heist at Bybit in early 2025. Former CEO Changpeng Zhao resigned in 2023 following a money laundering investigation but received a presidential pardon in 2025.