Binance has reported an estimated $6.3 billion impact from a security incident believed to be the largest cryptocurrency heist recorded, while insisting that customer funds remain safe.
The world’s biggest crypto exchange by daily trading volume said it had temporarily suspended deposits and withdrawals as it investigated unauthorised transactions, froze assets and worked with law enforcement.
Binance has not explicitly confirmed that funds were stolen. It said the figure represented the estimated total impact of the incident, and that its teams were working “around the clock” to resolve the matter.
“Rest assured that user funds are completely safe,” a Binance spokesperson said. The company also said it would “cover all losses”.
Binance said its initial investigation indicated that a compromised laptop belonging to a DevOps engineer may have allowed an attacker to access a service container and submit unauthorised withdrawal transactions.
It said there was no evidence that any wallet private key had been leaked. The exchange added that it would publish further technical details once its investigation was complete and the facts had been fully verified.
Binance security incident prompts asset freezes
The company said it had worked with blockchain partners to freeze affected assets, with roughly $3 billion frozen on-chain so far.
Stablecoin providers Tether and Circle separately said they had frozen funds linked to the incident. Circle chief executive Jeremy Allaire said more than $800 million had been frozen in coordination with law enforcement, while Tether chief executive Paolo Ardoino said his company had frozen more than $1.5 billion connected to a potential Binance exchange hack.
Binance said its security teams were working with law enforcement, cryptocurrency issuers, blockchain intelligence firms and other industry partners to trace and freeze additional assets.
The price of bitcoin fell by 3.2 per cent on Thursday evening to below $79,000.
Changpeng Zhao, who founded Binance in 2017, said on X that “User funds are safe!” He added that the incident “does look like a hack on Binance” and said that, although he no longer managed the company, he expected all user funds to be fully covered as a shareholder.
Zhao stepped down as Binance chief executive in 2023 after pleading guilty to a felony relating to his failure to prevent money laundering on the platform. He was sentenced under the US Bank Secrecy Act, released from prison in 2024 and pardoned by President Donald Trump in 2025.
