Binance under cyberattack? Crypto giants freeze more than $2.5 billion as Bitcoin drops over 3%. What's happening?
&imwidth=600&imheight=450&format=webp&quality=medium "Binance under cyberattack? Crypto giants freeze more than $2.5 billion as Bitcoin drops over 3%. What's happening?")
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Binance reports a major hack as more than $2.5 billion in crypto assets are frozen, while Bitcoin prices fall over 3% following the news
Cryptocurrency exchange Binance said on Thursday that it had been hit by a major hack, prompting the freezing of more than $2.5 billion in an attempt to prevent the assets from being stolen. The company, which is the world's largest cryptocurrency exchange by daily trading volumes, also announced the suspension of trading on certain products. Despite the incident, Binance sought to reassure its customers, saying, "User funds are completely safe."
However, several experts suggested that a massive amount of cryptocurrency may have been stolen. "It does look like a hack on Binance," said former Binance chief Changpeng Zhao, who no longer leads the company but remains its majority shareholder. Paolo Ardoino, CEO of Tether, which issues the USDT cryptocurrency, said his company had frozen approximately $1.6 billion related to a potential Binance exchange hack.
Meanwhile, Circle CEO Jeremy Allaire said his company had frozen more than $800 million in USDC. USDT and USDC are both ‘stablecoins’, digital currencies designed to maintain a value linked to a traditional currency, in this case, the US dollar. Hours before Binance officially confirmed the attack, several industry observers had reported that hackers had managed to gain access to the platform.
Some observers suggested the incident could become the biggest cyberattack of its kind, potentially surpassing the $1.5 billion stolen from the Bybit platform in February 2025. That attack was attributed to hackers affiliated with North Korea. Following the news, Bitcoin prices dropped by more than three percent. Blockchain security firm Blockaid said it was examining approximately $3.3 billion in suspicious outflows across Ethereum, Arbitrum and Avalanche, adding further scrutiny to the incident.
According to its website, Binance has more than 335 million registered users worldwide. Cryptocurrency exchanges like Binance allow users to buy, sell and trade digital assets.
