Binance Faces $2.54 Billion Fund Freeze After Possible Security Breach, Circle and Tether Report

Circle and Tether have frozen assets worth about $2.54 billion linked to a potential security incident at Binance, the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange by trading volume. Binance did not confirm a hack but said its teams were investigating and that user funds remained safe. The exchange also announced a temporary suspension of Binance Alpha trading and disclosed that the verified total of frozen assets was $2.54 billion.

Founder and former CEO Changpeng Zhao posted on X that all customer funds were protected and that the incident appeared to be a breach. Meanwhile, Circle CEO Jeremy Allaire said the firm had halted more than $800 million in USD Coin, and Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino reported a freeze of over $1.5 billion of USDT that might be tied to the same event.

Ripple, through co‑founder Yi He, added that it helped block about $200 million in XRP and RLUSD‑tied assets. Blockchain analysis firm Arkham Intelligence traced nearly $6 billion in crypto—including Bitcoin, Ether, Solana and stablecoins—to 55 wallet addresses it suspects are involved.

Previous high‑profile crypto thefts have included Bybit’s $1.5 billion loss in 2025 and a recent Bitget breach of over $350 million. Bitcoin fell more than 3 % to below $80,000, while Ether and Solana declined roughly 4 % and 3 % respectively. Circle shares dropped about 5 % in after‑hours trading.

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