Binance is investigating a suspected hack after more than $5.7 billion in crypto landed in a new wallet, according to Arkham data. Tether and Circle froze part of the funds, and bitcoin, ether and BNB all fell.
Binance is investigating a suspected hack after online sleuths tracked the draining of a Binance wallet into a new externally owned account. That account now holds more than $5.7 billion of various cryptos, according to Arkham, including $900 million of ether and roughly $1.4 billion in USDT and USDC combined.
Binance said on X: "Our teams are aware of reports of a potential security issue and are actively investigating." The exchange has not confirmed it was hacked, but the tally would make it the biggest crypto hack on record if confirmed.
Stablecoin issuers freeze funds
Tether and Circle, the issuers of the stablecoins USDT and USDC, both said they were tracking the incident. Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino said the firm had frozen over $1.57 billion worth of USDT. Circle CEO Jeremy Allaire said his firm froze over $800 million in USDC.
Estimates of the total differ by source. Blockaid said it is investigating approximately $3.3 billion in suspicious outflows from Binance hot wallets across Ethereum, Arbitrum, and Avalanche. Coinbase's Conor Grogan, by contrast, says the amount is up to $5.8 billion.
Founder says user funds are safe
Binance founder CZ said user funds are safe and that it looks like a hack. He added that he no longer manages Binance but, as a shareholder, expects all user funds will be fully covered.
The money came from the exchange's hot wallets, which Decrypt describes as the internet-connected wallets exchanges use to process customer withdrawals.
Crypto prices slide
Crypto prices moved lower, apparently on the news. Bitcoin was down 2% in the last hour to $78,800, while ether was down 3%. BNB took the hardest hit, down 6%.
Binance said it will provide updates through official channels as soon as it has verified information.
Sources: CoinDesk, Decrypt, The Block
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