Binance, the world’s largest crypto exchange, paused deposits and withdrawals on October 29, 2026, after a suspected hack drained an estimated $6.3 billion in assets. The exchange said users’ funds are safe and that it will cover all losses. The incident could be the largest crypto theft on record and rattled markets.
The breach became visible on the evening of October 29, when onchain data showed large transfers leaving Binance wallets. Arkham Intelligence estimated that the illegitimate withdrawals had passed $5.8 billion by 8 p.m., according to a live report from Protos. Binance then halted withdrawals and paused trading on its Alpha platform.
Binance’s own estimate put the impact at about $6.3 billion, with around $3 billion in assets frozen so far. Tether said it had frozen about $1.56 billion in USDT, and Circle froze more than $800 million in USDC. The freezes were aimed at limiting how far the stolen funds could move.
Binance chief executive Richard Teng has said that all losses will be covered and the company has said user funds are safe. Binance has said it will cover losses from its Secure Asset Fund for Users and from company funds. Co-founder Changpeng Zhao, who no longer runs the company, said the incident looked like a hack on Binance.
The news hit prices quickly. Ether fell as much as 6 percent, and BNB, Binance’s own token, lost about 8 percent. Bitcoin also dropped, reaching a six-week low of $76,368 before markets steadied.
If confirmed, the loss would be far larger than any previous theft. Bybit lost $1.5 billion in February 2025, a theft the FBI attributed to North Korea. Analysts have described the Binance incident as the biggest hack in history, but the final figure has not been independently verified.
Reports suggest the breach began with a compromised engineer’s laptop, though Binance has not confirmed that cause. The exchange has said it will publish a technical post-mortem once it verifies the facts. It has also promised an updated proof-of-reserves disclosure after remediation.
Binance has reportedly begun reimbursing affected users from its own capital, with more than $6.34 billion set aside. The exchange says it is working with law enforcement, token issuers and blockchain analytics firms to trace and recover more funds.
Binance has more than 335 million registered users and reported about $162.8 billion in assets under custody in its 2025 annual report. Binance.US, the separate US platform, was not affected, according to reports.
Withdrawals will resume once the security scan is complete, but Binance has not given a timeline. Watch for the proof-of-reserves update, the post-mortem and any confirmed final loss figure, which will show whether reimbursement covers the full amount.
