Binance, the world's largest cryptocurrency exchange by trading volume, suffered a hack that diverted more than $5.7 billion in digital assets on Thursday (29). The incident led companies including Tether and Circle to freeze billions of dollars in stablecoins, triggered a temporary suspension of deposits and withdrawals on the platform, and put pressure on the wider market, with Bitcoin falling below $78,000.

The figure has not yet been officially confirmed by Binance. The estimate comes from blockchain analytics firms, which identified suspicious transactions involving exchange wallets across different networks.

If confirmed, the loss would exceed the roughly $1.5 billion hack suffered by Bybit in February 2025, making it the largest cryptocurrency theft on record.

Chainalysis estimated the amount potentially diverted at approximately $5.9 billion, while Arkham Intelligence identified more than $5.7 billion in assets linked to the suspicious wallets. Other analyses put forward different figures, depending on which networks and transactions were included.

Assets moved included Bitcoin, Ethereum (ETH) and stablecoins such as USDT and USDC. Arkham's tracking identified approximately $1.5 billion in Bitcoin, $900 million in Ethereum and more than $2 billion across the two main stablecoins.

Binance acknowledged reports of a possible security issue and said its teams were investigating the case. "We are aware of reports of a potential security issue and are actively investigating. Our teams are reviewing all relevant information with urgency," the company said in a statement.

Initially, the exchange said it had not confirmed any impact on customer funds. Yi He, Binance co-founder and co-CEO, later said the company would cover any losses resulting from the attack. "Binance will cover all losses caused by the hack," the executive stated.

The platform also announced a temporary suspension of deposits and withdrawals to carry out security checks and trace the funds moved. Trading on Binance Alpha was halted as a precaution.

As of the latest update, the exchange had not disclosed the cause of the possible breach or published a final tally of the losses.

Tether, Circle and Ripple freeze billions in crypto

The suspicious activity was first flagged by researchers monitoring public blockchain transactions.

The investigator known as Spreek pointed to transfers of large amounts of cryptocurrency from wallets linked to Binance to addresses with no public identification.

Part of these funds was subsequently moved through other wallets and decentralised finance platforms, deepening suspicions that the exchange had been breached.

Following the alerts, stablecoin issuers began blocking the assets linked to the transactions.

Tether, the issuer of USDT, confirmed the freezing of approximately $1.57 billion. Circle, the issuer of USDC, blocked more than $800 million related to the incident. The two measures together total around $2.38 billion in frozen stablecoins.

Ripple also took part in the containment effort. According to information released by Binance, the company blocked around $200 million in assets linked to the case.

World Liberty Financial, a company linked to the family of US President Donald Trump, also said it had helped freeze funds associated with the suspicious movements.

With these and other measures, Binance said approximately $3 billion in assets had already been frozen, a figure that could rise as the investigation progressed.

Freezing is possible because stablecoins such as USDT and USDC have issuers capable of restricting the movement of specific tokens on their networks.

This mechanism makes it possible to stop funds identified as potentially linked to criminal activity from continuing to circulate, although a freeze does not necessarily mean the funds will ultimately be recovered.

The same kind of measure cannot be applied directly to Bitcoin, which has no central entity able to authorise or block transactions.

According to CoinDesk, whoever was behind the suspicious transfers also carried out operations on decentralised platforms such as Uniswap and Aave. In one instance, assets were used as collateral to obtain approximately $44 million worth of Ethereum represented on the network.

Aave said it had taken preventive measures in certain lending markets and stressed that its smart contracts had not been compromised.

The speed with which the funds were moved and frozen turned the case into a tracing operation involving exchanges, stablecoin issuers, blockchain analytics firms and law enforcement authorities.

Bitcoin falls as Binance pledges to protect customers

News of the possible attack triggered a sharp reaction across the cryptocurrency market. Bitcoin fell to around $77,000, its lowest level in roughly six weeks. Ethereum retreated to near $2,200, while BNB, the token associated with the Binance ecosystem, lost more than 8% within 24 hours at one point.

Shares of companies linked to the sector also came under pressure. Coinbase fell around 4.8% in after-hours trading following the close of the US market, while Strategy dropped nearly 6%.

The reaction reflects investor concern over the scale of the possible incident and its effect on confidence in centralised platforms.

Binance held approximately $144 billion in customer assets under its responsibility before the suspicious transfers, according to DefiLlama data cited by CoinDesk. If the roughly $5.7 billion loss is confirmed, it would amount to about 4% of that total.

One of the key questions is how the exchange will compensate for any assets that turn out to have been compromised.

The company has maintained the Secure Asset Fund for Users (SAFU) since 2018, a reserve created to protect customers in emergency situations, including security incidents. The fund holds approximately $1 billion in Bitcoin.

That amount, however, would fall short of the higher loss estimates put forward by investigators. Binance has not detailed whether it will draw on SAFU, its own resources or other mechanisms to cover the losses.

Changpeng Zhao, the company's founder and former CEO, said the episode appeared to be a hack, while noting that he no longer runs the platform.

"I don't manage Binance anymore, but as a shareholder, I expect all user funds will be fully covered," Zhao wrote on social media.

The exchange said it is working with authorities and industry companies to trace and freeze the assets involved. It also advised customers to rely exclusively on its official channels, warning of the risk of scams that could use the incident as a pretext to request personal information or account access.

Binance.US, a separate company operating in the United States, said it was not affected by the episode. Coinbase also stated that its operations had not been compromised.

At the time of writing, there is no definitive public conclusion on the cause of the security failure, the identity of those responsible, or the amount effectively lost.

The investigation will also need to clarify how much of the frozen funds can be recovered and when the services temporarily suspended by Binance will be restored.

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