Binance, the world's largest cryptocurrency exchange platform, has disclosed a security breach likely involving a system hack, impacting assets valued at approximately 6.3 billion US dollars, or about 212 billion baht. More than half of the related assets have already been frozen. The company has confirmed it will take full responsibility for all damages, while prices of Bitcoin and other major cryptocurrencies have sharply declined.
Binance, the world's largest cryptocurrency exchange platform, revealed a security incident on its Binance.com platform affecting digital assets worth about 6.3 billion US dollars, or roughly 212 billion baht. The company indicated that initial findings suggest the event is related to an unauthorized system hack and withdrawal of assets.
Binance stated that preliminary investigations found that the attacker may have exploited a vulnerability from a laptop of one of their engineers, which was compromised and then used to carry out unauthorized asset withdrawals. However, detailed methods of the attack have not been disclosed and the investigation is ongoing.
The company said it has coordinated with cryptocurrency exchanges and industry partners to freeze approximately half of the affected assets. This figure could increase as further transactions are tracked and verified. Binance reaffirmed its commitment to cover all damages incurred.
Chainalysis, a blockchain data analytics provider, estimated the stolen assets during the incident to be around 5.912 billion US dollars. If confirmed, this would surpass the February 2025 attack on the Bybit platform, where 1.5 billion US dollars were stolen and linked to hackers associated with North Korea.
Later, at about 00:30 GMT on Friday, Binance announced the temporary suspension of all deposits and withdrawals to allow its team to investigate security, freeze related assets, and cooperate with law enforcement authorities. The platform confirmed it will resume services once it is confident the system is secure.
Changpeng Zhao, known as CZ, former CEO of Binance and still a major shareholder, stated on the X platform that the incident appears to be a genuine system hack, estimating total damages could exceed 1 billion US dollars.
Major cryptocurrency issuers have taken measures to freeze assets linked to the incident. Paolo Ardoino, CEO of Tether, revealed that the company has frozen approximately 1.6 billion US dollars in related assets.
Jeremy Allaire, CEO of Circle, stated that the company has already frozen over 800 million US dollars of USDC assets related to this event.
Both Tether's USDT and Circle's USDC are stablecoins designed to maintain a value pegged to the US dollar.
Additionally, World Liberty Financial, a cryptocurrency business connected to former US President Donald Trump and his family, announced it has coordinated with partners to freeze the stolen assets. Meanwhile, Coinbase confirmed it was not affected by the incident and is closely monitoring the situation.
News of the system breach has impacted the cryptocurrency market, with prices of major digital assets sharply falling upon the disclosure.
Data around 00:25 UTC on Friday, 30 Oct, showed Bitcoin's price dropping nearly 5%, Ethereum down almost 6%, and BNB—the native coin of Binance's platform—falling nearly 10%. Most stablecoins maintained relatively stable prices within narrow ranges, consistent with their value-preserving mechanisms.
Binance indicated it is working with law enforcement, blockchain analytics firms, coin issuers, and industry partners to trace the financial flows and identify perpetrators for prosecution. A full report will be released once the investigation concludes.
Several observers in the cryptocurrency industry had expressed concern about Binance's system irregularities prior to the company's official confirmation of the incident.
Binance was founded in 2017 by Changpeng Zhao and has more than 300 million registered users worldwide. In 2024, the company revealed it managed over 160 billion US dollars in assets and faces regulatory scrutiny from authorities in multiple countries.
This event occurs amid growing concerns about artificial intelligence (AI) technology’s potential to be used in future attacks against encryption systems and information technology security measures.