Crypto worth billions frozen after suspected Binance hack

Binance announced Thursday that it has frozen approximately $3 billion (£2.24 billion) in digital assets to protect them from theft while it investigates a security breach.

The firm issued alerts online stating that all deposits and withdrawals are temporarily suspended as its teams conduct security checks, and affirmed that it will cover all losses.

“It appears to be a hack on Binance,” said Binance’s former chief executive, Changpeng Zhao, who still holds a majority stake in the company.

Tether and Circle have also frozen roughly $2.4 billion in assets in response to the possible Binance breach.

Binance warned that the total frozen amount may rise further as its teams coordinate with law‑enforcement agencies and other partners to trace and seize additional assets.

The company added that its teams are working around the clock, will publish a full post‑mortem after the investigation, and urges users to rely solely on official Binance updates, noting that users’ funds remain safe.

Binance is the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange by daily trading volume.

Bitcoin fell about 5 % after the alerts, and the price of other major cryptocurrencies—including Ethereum and Solana—declined sharply.

Circle chief executive Jeremy Allaire said his firm is closely monitoring reports of a possible exploit involving Binance and that the company has frozen over $800 million in assets tied to the incident.

“Protecting the industry and our partners is our top priority,” Ardoino said, noting that USDT is the cryptocurrency issued by his company.

Industry observers had previously flagged concerns about a possible Binance breach hours before the exchange confirmed the intrusion.

The scale of the potential intrusion remains unclear.

In 2025, cybercriminals stole $1.5 billion in cryptocurrency from Dubai‑based exchange Bybit, an incident attributed to North Korean hackers.

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