Binance investigates possible $5.7 billion hack after transfers from linked wallets

Binance is investigating a possible security incident after transfers of more than $5 billion were detected from wallets linked to the exchange. Early estimates put the outflows at between $5.5 billion and $5.7 billion, which would make this the biggest crypto theft on record if the funds are confirmed stolen.

1. Binance said its teams are looking into a possible security issue and stated that user funds are “completely safe.” At the time of publication, it had not confirmed the total amount taken or explained how the transfers were carried out.
2. Changpeng Zhao, Binance founder and known as CZ, wrote on X that “everything points to a hack at Binance.” He added that user funds are safe and said he no longer runs the company, though as a shareholder he expects all customer funds to be covered.
3. Tether and Circle, the issuers of USDT and USDC, said they blocked assets linked to the incident. Paolo Ardoino, CEO of Tether, said they froze more than 1,567 million USDT, while Jeremy Allaire, head of Circle, said more than 800 million USDC were blocked. Both are designed to trade near $1.
4. The market reaction was immediate. According to CoinDesk, bitcoin traded around $78,800, while BNB, the token tied to Binance, was down by about 7%.
5. CoinDesk, citing Arkham data, said assets attributed to the attacker exceeded $5.7 billion. Decrypt reported a calculation of $5.570 billion in outflows from Binance-related wallets across Ethereum, Bitcoin and Tron. Unchained estimated about $3.5 billion in transfers on Ethereum alone and said bitcoin outflow reports were not yet verified in its review.

The transfers affected hot wallets, the internet-connected wallets exchanges use for operations and withdrawals. One of the first transfers reportedly moved a large amount of ether and dozens of other assets to a newly created address, which is exactly the sort of detail treasury and risk teams tend to notice before anyone else does.