Crypto Exchange Binance Investigates Major Hack as Bitcoin Falls Below $79,000

Cryptocurrency exchange Binance is investigating a suspected major hack after freezing $2.54 billion in digital assets, causing a sharp sell-off across digital currency markets.

Frozen Assets

Binance suspended withdrawals on multiple networks as a safety measure while its security teams look into the issue. The exchange stated that user funds are completely safe and had not confirmed any direct impact on customer balances at this stage. Former Binance chief Changpeng Zhao said he expects all user funds to be fully covered. Other crypto firms also stepped in to lock down funds linked to the incident. Tether chief executive Paolo Ardoino stated his firm froze more than $1.5 billion in USDT, while Circle chief Jeremy Allaire confirmed that $800 million of USDC had been frozen. Additionally, Binance co-founder Yi He noted that Ripple helped stop the movement of $200 million tied to the possible attack.

Market Impact

Bitcoin slumped as much as 3.7%, falling below $79,000 to reach its lowest level since September. Ether and Solana also suffered losses, while shares of Circle fell about 5% in after-hours trading. Blockchain tracker Arkham identified wallets holding nearly $6 billion in digital assets linked to the event, though this figure does not match the exact amount stolen. Fredrick Collins of Velo Data said the incident hit market confidence in the wider industry.

Context

Binance is the largest cryptocurrency exchange in the world by daily trading volume, meaning sudden security concerns can quickly affect prices across the entire digital asset market. Stablecoins like USDT and USDC are designed to keep a steady value pegged to the US dollar, and freezing them is a common emergency step used by issuers to block hackers from cashing out stolen funds.