Binance's possible hack triggers US$3 billion freeze in crypto assets, bitcoin drops - The Standard (HK)

Binance, the world's largest cryptocurrency exchange, said on Thursday it had frozen $3 billion in crypto assets as it investigated a potential security breach, with stablecoin issuers Circle and Tether freezing related assets. The market impact was immediate, with Bitcoin dropping about 2 percent to a six-week low of $77,646 and ether falling around 2 percent to a two-month low of $2,238.76.

BNB, Binance's native token, was down more than 8 percent over the past 24 hours at $694, according to market aggregator CoinGecko. Crypto exchange Coinbase Global slid 4.8 percent while those of bitcoin buyer Strategy fell nearly 6 percent in extended US trading.

Exchange Response

Binance said the amount frozen could increase as it worked with law enforcement agencies, token issuers, blockchain intelligence firms and other industry partners to trace and freeze additional assets. The exchange also temporarily suspended trading on its Binance Alpha platform as a precaution.

Changpeng Zhao, Binance's co-founder who no longer runs the company, said in a post on X that the incident "looked like a hack." Binance has more than 335 million registered users globally and had about $160 billion in assets under custody as of its 2024 annual report.

Industry Reactions

Tether said it had frozen nearly $1.57 billion in assets linked to the incident, while Circle froze more than $800 million. World Liberty Financial, a crypto company linked to US President Donald Trump, said it had worked with BitGo to freeze stolen funds, including $27 million in stablecoins and $2 million worth of World Liberty tokens.

Crypto firm Ripple also froze roughly $200 million in funds. We are closely monitoring reports of a potential exploit involving Binance and are freezing affected funds and coordinating with relevant parties, said Jack McDonald, senior vice president of stablecoins at Ripple.

Growing Concerns

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, though the exact cause had not been confirmed. The incident adds to a string of crypto thefts, with attackers stealing $2.9 billion worth of cryptocurrency across nearly 150 attacks last year.

In September, cryptocurrency exchange Bitget said roughly $350 million in crypto had been stolen from its platform. Authorities have warned that organized crime groups are increasingly using cryptocurrencies to move funds across borders outside the traditional financial system.

Binance.US and Coinbase both said they were not affected by the security incident. Binance said it was conducting security checks and would resume withdrawals once the issue was fully resolved, assuring users that their funds remained safe.