Binance hack: up to $6.3bn hit, Bitcoin at six-week low
In short
- Binance estimates the total impact of the hack at about $6.3bn, with about $3bn frozen on-chain. It says user funds are safe and that it will cover losses from its SAFU fund and company funds.
- Bitcoin fell to $76,658, a six-week low (TradingKey). At 7:00 am Bulgarian time (5:00 am in London) it was near £58,770, down 1.94% in 24 hours.
- About $628m of leveraged positions was liquidated within an hour (CoinGlass). Hyperliquid’s HYPE was the standout gainer among the large coins, up 17.4%.
Hackers drained a hot wallet at Binance, and Chainalysis says it could be the largest crypto theft on record. On Wednesday we wrote about another incident, the Keystone customer address leak. This one is on a different scale and moved prices straight away.
What happened
At about 20:24 UTC on Thursday (8:24 pm in London) a Binance hot wallet was emptied in a single transaction: 167,464 ETH plus 63 other tokens, according to CryptoTicker. It put the confirmed Ethereum loss at about $2.8bn, and trackers saw outflows of up to $3.55bn across six blockchains. Binance later put the total impact at about $6.3bn, with about $3bn frozen on-chain. Estimates differ and are still moving (ABC News).
Binance says its first findings point to a compromised laptop belonging to a DevOps engineer, which gave the attacker access to a service container and let them submit unauthorised withdrawals. It says it has found no evidence that a wallet private key leaked. Deposits and withdrawals were suspended temporarily. Tether froze more than 1.567bn USDT and Circle more than 800m USDC (CryptoTicker). ABC also reports that Ripple froze about $200m.
Prices fell fast. Bitcoin was at $80,327 at 20:15 UTC and dropped to a low of $76,658. Ether touched $2,238.76, a two-month low, and BNB fell more than 8% to $694. Total crypto market value fell to about $2.65tn. Of the $628m liquidated, about $607m was long positions.
What it means for you
The maths: 0.1 BTC is worth about £5,877 at 7:00 am Bulgarian time (£58,770 per Bitcoin). That is about £117 less than a day earlier and about £285 less than a week earlier (down 4.63%). Ether is £1,683, down 2.96% in 24 hours.
Binance holds about $144bn of customer assets, according to DefiLlama (as of 21:15 UTC). Bank deposit protection schemes cover bank deposits, not money held on a crypto exchange. Live prices are on our UK crypto prices page.
Bottom line
Binance puts the hit at up to $6.3bn, says user funds are safe and that it will cover losses, while Tether and Circle have frozen part of the stolen funds. Bitcoin touched a six-week low and leveraged positions were liquidated. The investigation is continuing and the loss estimates are still changing.
Sources: CryptoTicker · ABC News · TradingKey
For information only. This is not investment advice.
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