Binance reports $5.7 billion hack and suspends withdrawals as Tether and Circle freeze assets

Binance Holdings Ltd. says it has launched an emergency security review after signs that more than $5.7 billion in virtual assets were stolen, and it has temporarily suspended user withdrawals. For high-risk payment and crypto operators, the key detail is not just the size of the incident: stablecoin issuers Tether and Circle have already moved to freeze assets, which is the part of the flow that can matter operationally.

1. According to Bloomberg, the suspected theft at Binance Holdings Ltd. covers about $5.7 billion, or about 7.63 trillion won, and is estimated at about 4% of Binance Holdings Ltd.'s total assets. The reported breakdown includes about $1.5 billion in bitcoin, about $900 million in ether, and about $1.4 billion combined in the dollar stablecoins USDT and USDC.
2. Blockchain activity suggested the assets were being exchanged into other virtual assets through Uniswap, the decentralized exchange, from a wallet believed to be controlled by the hacker. Arkham, the blockchain analytics firm, said the hacker used the stolen USDT as collateral to borrow at least 20,000 wrapped ether from the decentralized lending protocol Aave; the value of those assets was about $44 million.
3. Binance Holdings Ltd. said it temporarily suspended user withdrawals in connection with the incident and will resume service after the security issue is resolved. On X, the company said: “We are currently investigating a potential security issue. Our security team is urgently reviewing all related information and will provide guidance through official channels as soon as verified information is secured.”
4. Stablecoin issuers Tether and Circle also moved to respond, including freezing the stolen assets. That matters because once assets are moving through stablecoins and DeFi protocols, the ability of issuers and counterparties to freeze funds becomes one of the few hard controls left in the chain.
5. Binance Holdings Ltd. said it operates the Secure Asset Fund for Users (SAFU) to protect user assets in security breaches. The fund currently holds about $1 billion, or 1.338 trillion won, worth of bitcoin, but the company did not say whether it will use the fund for this incident.