Binance confirms crypto heist, biggest in history, but no one’s sure what broke | Business News - Hindustan Times
Crypto exchange Binance has confirmed investigating what is believed to be the biggest crypto hack in history, with approximately $5.7 billion in users' funds stolen this Thursday.
The hack comes amid a wave of high-profile cyberattacks in what cybersecurity experts have dubbed "Black October." Earlier, decentralized predictions platform Polymarket confirmed it was facing a cyberattack that forced them to pause operations, which Hudson Rock research platform linked to a third-party website monitoring tool called DebugBear.
Exchange Response
Binance co-founder Yi He confirmed the exchange had suspended deposits and withdrawals, stating "User funds are safe, Binance will cover all hacking losses." The company is working with law enforcement agencies and conducting security checks.
We will share a full post-mortem once the investigation is complete. Please rely only on official Binance channels for updates.
Industry Impact
Tether and Circle have frozen crypto accounts on their exchanges to limit potential losses. Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino says around $1.6 billion worth has been frozen "related to a potential Binance exchange hack." Neither platform indicates if they are also under attack.
Glassnode, a digital asset advisory firm, estimates the hack at around $5.3 billion in crypto value. If confirmed, this would surpass the Bybit hack of 2025, when hackers linked to North Korea stole approximately $1.5 billion worth of crypto.
Market Reaction
The very nature of cryptocurrency, which is unregulated and doesn't draw its value in a way defined currencies and metals do, makes it vulnerable to volatility if a large volume of withdrawals or deposits happens. Prices of Bitcoin, Ethereum and Solana have dropped as much as 5% since the announcement.
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