Why Is Bitcoin Dropping? Binance Probe and $1.49B Liquidations - Bitcoin Foundation
Bitcoin dropped below $77,000 on October 30, 2026, with $1.49 billion in crypto positions liquidated in 24 hours, while Binance investigated a suspected security breach involving suspicious outflows.
Bitcoin slipped below $77,000 at one point on October 30, with $1.49 billion in crypto positions liquidated in 24 hours while Binance scrambled to contain a suspected security breach. The drop came during a broad market sell-off, leaving traders to question the causes of the decline. At 04:11 UTC, CoinGecko had Bitcoin at $77,858, down 2.35% over 24 hours, with BeInCrypto reporting an earlier price of $77,111.
Binance Investigates Suspicious Outflows
Binance opened a probe into a possible security breach after blockchain analysts flagged suspicious transfers out of wallets tied to the exchange. Glassnode's initial assessment put the crypto involved at $5.3 billion, with other estimates approaching $6 billion. The assets affected included an estimated $1.66 billion in USDT, 17,985 BTC worth about $1.45 billion, and $767 million in USDC, along with transfers in XRP, Solana, Ethereum, and Tron.
User funds are safe! It does look like a hack on Binance. Appreciate the quick freeze from Tether ($971m) and Circle ($823m). I don't manage Binance (.com) anymore, but as a shareholder, I expect all user funds will be fully covered.
Massive Liquidations Across Crypto Market
Coinglass figures cited by BeInCrypto put 24-hour liquidations at $1.49 billion across 243,456 traders. Long positions accounted for $1.29 billion — 86.8% of the total — against $197.08 million on the short side. Bitcoin positions made up the largest single-asset share at $475.19 million, with longs at 87.6% of that. Ethereum came next at $330.59 million, 84.7% of it long.
The pressure wasn't limited to Bitcoin, with Ethereum trading at $2,218 (down 5.40%), Solana at $94.38 (down 6.94%), and XRP at $1.22 (down 7.54%). Not all tokens fell, with Hyperliquid's HYPE rising 12.74% and TRON's TRX gaining 9.34%. The sell-off affected even traditional assets, with silver logging $15.23 million and SanDisk $16.06 million in liquidations.
Timing and Impact of the Breach
Prices were already sliding before the first wallet alerts appeared, complicating any direct-cause narrative. BeInCrypto noted that the timing rules out treating the breach as the established cause of the initial sell-off. The sequence of events was clear: price moves first, then wallet alerts, followed by reactions. Binance had frozen $2.54 billion in assets, a figure that could rise as the investigation continues.
Co-CEO Yi He pledged that Binance would cover all user losses from the breach. No final theft total had been established, and deposits and withdrawals remained paused during the probe. For Bitcoin, the immediate question is whether selling and forced liquidations continue or ease, with no confirmed catalyst pointing to a rebound.
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