Binance, the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange, is investigating a potential security breach involving more than $2 billion in assets, prompting freezes from stablecoin issuers Tether and Circle and a dip in Bitcoin’s price, sources reported on Thursday and Friday.
Binance Reports Potential Security Breach of Billions
Binance reported a potential security issue on Thursday, sparking concerns about a large-scale hack, according to EL PAÍS and Infobae. Initial estimates ranged from $2.27 billion to as high as $5.8 billion in compromised assets, though the exact amount remained under investigation as of Friday.
Tether and Circle Freeze Billions in Stablecoins
In response to the suspected breach, Tether and Circle, major issuers of stablecoins, took swift action to freeze potentially affected funds. Tether froze more than $1.567 billion in USDT, while Circle froze over $800 million in USDC, CriptoNoticias reported. According to Bloomberglinea, Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino stated, Protecting the industry and our partners is our main priority.
Tether froze more than 1.567B USDT related to a potential Binance exchange hack. Protecting the industry and our partners is our main priority.Stay safe everyone.
The Scale of the Potential Losses
Estimates of the stolen funds varied significantly across reports. Initial figures pointed to around $2.27 billion, but Arkham Intelligence identified wallets holding approximately $5.84 billion in digital assets, Xataka detailed. Infobae reported the potential amount could exceed $5 billion. Observatorio Blockchain noted that this could represent the largest cryptocurrency hack in history.
Bitcoin Prices Fall After Suspected Hack
The suspected hack led to a downturn in cryptocurrency prices, with Bitcoin falling below $79,000, NewsDigitales reported. This incident follows a history of security breaches in the cryptocurrency space. Infobae noted that Bybit suffered a $1.5 billion hack in February 2025, and Binance itself was previously targeted in 2019, losing approximately 7,000 Bitcoin.
Binance Suspends Deposits and Withdrawals During Investigation
As of Friday, Binance continued its investigation, with teams reviewing security measures and collaborating with authorities. Bloomberglinea reported Binance suspended deposits and withdrawals as a precautionary measure. The ultimate extent of the losses and the full impact on the cryptocurrency market remain to be seen.
Our team is conducting security checks. Withdrawals will resume as soon as the security issue is fully resolved.User funds remain safe.We’ll keep you updated. Thank you for your patience. pic.twitter.com/7NuxbZwE3M
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More on Tether
BREAKING: World's largest crypto exchange Binance hacked with over $5.6 billion stolen:• $1.45 billion $BTC • $875 million $ETH• $234 million $TRX• $50 million $XAUT• $1.57 billion $USDT• $823 million $USDC• $75 million $WBETH • $88.5 million $RLUSD+ $447.5… pic.twitter.com/2GyGbqmEKh
User funds are safe. Binance will cover all hacking losses.Deposits and withdrawals are temporarily suspended while our team conducts security checks, freezes funds, and works with law enforcement.We will share a full post-mortem once the investigation is complete. Please…
Update: This brings the total frozen for the Binance exploit so far to over $2.83B pic.twitter.com/AX3utCiIPF
Aave protocol will be fine.The hacker supplied 60M USDT and borrowed 19,762 wETH (~44.9M$) in 3 minutes, before Tether froze their address and before the Aave Guardian froze the Aave V3 Core reserves (46 min later).But USDT is real money backed by dollars, and the position is…
User funds are safe!It does look like a hack on Binance. Appreciate the quick freeze from Tether (~$971m) and Circle (~$823m).I don't manage Binance (.com) anymore, but as a shareholder, I expect all user funds will be fully covered. https://t.co/oufpyNChxI
Circle is closely tracking reports of a potential exploit involving Binance. In coordination with law enforcement, we have frozen more than 800M USDC associated with the incident and will continue supporting the investigation.
Our teams are aware of reports of a potential security issue and are actively investigating.Our security teams are reviewing all relevant information with urgency, and we will provide updates through official Binance channels as soon as we have verified information.Users… pic.twitter.com/WmMUSy8Emd
Update: The current verified total frozen amount is around $3 billion. Our teams continue to work closely with law enforcement, issuers, blockchain intelligence firms and industry partners to trace and freeze additional assets.We will only share confirmed figures and will… pic.twitter.com/e5RHM1VwOU
Our teams are aware of reports of a potential security issue and are actively investigating. User funds are completely safe.Our security teams are reviewing all relevant information with urgency, and we will provide updates through official Binance channels as soon as we have… pic.twitter.com/ATR4YdzmHV
I think the number is potentially up to $5.8B. Tether has blacklisted a large portion of this. https://t.co/ANz2DiXc8S pic.twitter.com/BfscU7ENSo
