Binance investigates potential $5.8 billion crypto theft

Binance says it is investigating reports of a potential security breach involving digital assets. The exchange has not confirmed whether any transfers were unauthorized, how the suspected breach occurred, or whether assets were stolen.

Blockchain analysis shared on X reported transfers from multiple Binance hot wallets to a newly created Ethereum address. One wallet reportedly moved about $2.53 billion across 64 cryptocurrency tokens, followed 24 seconds later by a $174.4 million transfer from another wallet. A later update reported that a third wallet sent 780 million USDC to the same address, bringing the reported total to about $3.48 billion.

Arkham Intelligence is tracking 55 addresses linked to an entity it labels “binance-hacker-1029.” Their combined holdings were valued at about $5.78 billion, including $1.77 billion in USDT, $1.44 billion in Bitcoin, $876 million in Ethereum and $823 million in USDC. That figure covers assets across the tracked wallets; it is not a confirmed amount stolen from Binance.

Binance said customer funds were safe and that it would share updates through official channels after verifying information. The exchange also urged customers to watch for scams. Tether said it froze more than $1.567 billion in USDT associated with the potential hack. Circle said it froze more than $800 million in USDC and was coordinating with law enforcement. Binance founder Changpeng Zhao said the incident appeared to be a hack, while noting he no longer manages the exchange.