Binance hacked – $5,6 billion stolen
Binance is investigating a hack after large transfers from exchange wallets on the evening of October 29. Cyprus Inform’s preliminary estimate puts the value of the assets withdrawn at around $5,6 billion.
Exchange founder Changpeng Zhao (CZ) said the incident appeared to be a hack and stated that users’ funds were safe. He clarified that he no longer runs Binance, but as a shareholder expects customers’ funds to be fully covered. The company itself said it was investigating a potential security issue.
What happened
The first major Ethereum transactions took place at 20:24 UTC. About 167, 464 ETH and 63 tokens, including roughly 1.6 billion USDT, were transferred from an address labeled Binance 14 on Etherscan. Twenty-four seconds later, Binance 16 sent another approximately 28, 005 ETH to the same recipient.
About 15 minutes later, the recipient transferred 195, 460 ETH to another new address. Researchers later recorded a further transfer of 780 million USDC from the Binance Hot Wallet 34.
Cyprus Inform estimates that about $3,51 billion in assets moved on Ethereum, $1,44 billion on Bitcoin, and $630 million on Tron. This preliminary breakdown across the three networks gives a total of around $5,6 billion.
An estimate broken down by individual crypto assets is also circulating online. The amounts listed total $5,613 billion:
- Bitcoin (BTC) – $1,45 billion;
- Ethereum (ETH) – $875 million;
- TRON (TRX) – $234 million;
- Tether Gold (XAUt) – $50 million;
- Tether (USDT) – $1,57 billion;
- USD Coin (USDC) – $823 million;
- Wrapped Beacon ETH (wBETH) – $75 million;
- Ripple USD (RLUSD) – $88,5 million;
- other crypto assets – $447,5 million.
If the theft of such an amount is confirmed, the incident will be the largest hack in cryptocurrency history. By comparison, assets worth about $1,5 billion were stolen in the February 2025 attack on Bybit.
A researcher using the pseudonym Spreek drew attention to a possible top-up of the address that initiated the transactions via the crypto mixer Tornado Cash. At first, he did not rule out routine wallet maintenance, although he called the activity suspicious. Binance has not yet disclosed the technical cause of the incident.
Which funds were frozen
Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino said that more than 1.567 billion USDT linked to the incident had been frozen. According to Zhao, Circle also froze around 823 million USDC. The reported amount of frozen stablecoins therefore exceeds $2,3 billion.
A freeze limits the further movement of tokens, but does not in itself mean they have been returned to Binance. These assets may be included in the overall estimate of funds withdrawn, so frozen amounts should not be added to the estimated outflow.
Tether and Circle can block transactions involving their stablecoins through their smart contracts. This mechanism does not apply to ETH.
User funds
In its initial statement, Binance said it had not confirmed whether the incident affected customer funds. In a subsequent update, the exchange said users’ funds were completely safe. The company has not yet published a final calculation of losses or announced whether it will use its SAFU reserve fund.
Binance also warned of scam messages and urged users not to trust unofficial links or requests for account information. The company said it would publish investigation updates through its official channels.
