Key Takeaways
- • Binance said a security incident carries an estimated impact of $6.3 billion, with roughly $3 billion in cryptocurrency assets frozen so far, and pledged to cover all losses from its Secure Asset Fund for Users and company funds.
- • The exchange attributed the incident to a compromised DevOps engineer's laptop that allowed an attacker to access a service container and submit unauthorized withdrawal transactions; Binance says it has found no evidence of a wallet private key leak.
- • Binance said the verified total frozen was $2.54 billion, while Circle froze more than $800 million in USD Coin and Tether froze more than $1.5 billion in USDT tied to the potential breach.
- • Crypto data provider Arkham Intelligence linked nearly $6 billion in digital assets across 55 wallet addresses to the potential exploit, suggesting frozen funds may cover only part of the impacted assets.
- • Bitcoin fell more than 4% to $77,994.96 on Friday as the hack weighed on crypto markets, and Circle shares fell about 5% in after-hours trading.
Summary
Binance said Friday that a security incident had an estimated impact of $6.3 billion, with around $3 billion in cryptocurrency assets frozen so far, making it one of the largest crypto hacks on record. The world's largest crypto exchange said an initial investigation suggested that a compromised DevOps engineer's laptop allowed an attacker to gain access to a service container and submit unauthorized withdrawal transactions. Binance said customer funds remained safe and that it would cover all losses using its Secure Asset Fund for Users and company funds.
As immediate containment measures, Binance temporarily suspended deposits and withdrawals, revoked the affected address authorization, and suspended Binance Alpha trading. The company enlisted law enforcement and blockchain intelligence firms to trace and recover funds, and said it would publish a technical report and an updated Proof of Reserves after remediation. Binance said it had found no evidence of any wallet private key leak and would share a detailed post-mortem once the investigation was complete. A Binance spokesperson said user funds were "completely safe." Binance put the verified total frozen at $2.54 billion.
Several crypto firms moved to freeze funds tied to the hack. According to the report, Circle CEO Jeremy Allaire said the company had frozen more than $800 million in USD Coin associated with the incident, and Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino said Tether had frozen more than $1.5 billion of its USDT that may have been related to a potential breach. Ripple's senior vice president of stablecoins, Jack McDonald, said the firm was actively freezing affected funds held in RLUSD, its U.S. dollar-backed stablecoin. Binance co-founder Yi He said Ripple helped halt the movement of $200 million of funds linked to the possible attack.
The frozen amounts may represent only part of the affected assets. Arkham Intelligence, which tracks wallets by analyzing public blockchain data and solicits community tips, linked nearly $6 billion in digital assets, including bitcoin, ether, solana and various stablecoins, to 55 wallet addresses it associates with the potential exploit. Markets reacted, with bitcoin falling more than 4% to $77,994.96 on Friday and Circle shares declining about 5% in after-hours trading on Thursday. The incident follows other large exploits, including Bybit's roughly $1.5 billion loss in 2025 and a theft of more than $350 million in digital assets from Bitget.
As immediate containment measures, Binance temporarily suspended deposits and withdrawals, revoked the affected address authorization, and suspended Binance Alpha trading. The company enlisted law enforcement and blockchain intelligence firms to trace and recover funds, and said it would publish a technical report and an updated Proof of Reserves after remediation. Binance said it had found no evidence of any wallet private key leak and would share a detailed post-mortem once the investigation was complete. A Binance spokesperson said user funds were "completely safe." Binance put the verified total frozen at $2.54 billion.
Several crypto firms moved to freeze funds tied to the hack. According to the report, Circle CEO Jeremy Allaire said the company had frozen more than $800 million in USD Coin associated with the incident, and Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino said Tether had frozen more than $1.5 billion of its USDT that may have been related to a potential breach. Ripple's senior vice president of stablecoins, Jack McDonald, said the firm was actively freezing affected funds held in RLUSD, its U.S. dollar-backed stablecoin. Binance co-founder Yi He said Ripple helped halt the movement of $200 million of funds linked to the possible attack.
The frozen amounts may represent only part of the affected assets. Arkham Intelligence, which tracks wallets by analyzing public blockchain data and solicits community tips, linked nearly $6 billion in digital assets, including bitcoin, ether, solana and various stablecoins, to 55 wallet addresses it associates with the potential exploit. Markets reacted, with bitcoin falling more than 4% to $77,994.96 on Friday and Circle shares declining about 5% in after-hours trading on Thursday. The incident follows other large exploits, including Bybit's roughly $1.5 billion loss in 2025 and a theft of more than $350 million in digital assets from Bitget.
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