Binance pauses withdrawals as hackers steal billions in crypto
Binance confirms security incident as users report drained wallets, while Circle and Tether freeze over $2.3 billion in related funds.
Stock photo for illustration only, not from the actual event
- Binance confirmed a security incident after users reported funds being drained from exchange wallets.
- Crypto watchers estimate at least $2 billion has been drained, with loss estimates reaching up to $5.7 billion.
- Circle and Tether froze approximately $2.36 billion in funds linked to the Binance hack.
- Polymarket faced a separate incident, temporarily halting trading after a $2 million software breach via DebugBear.
Cryptocurrency exchange giant Binance has confirmed to TechCrunch that it is addressing a security incident after users reported that funds were being drained from the platform's wallets on October 29, 2026. In response to the breach, the company released a statement assuring users that their funds remain completely secure.
Simultaneously, financial technology giant Circle froze approximately $800 million in Tether as the funds passed through its networks, while Tether itself froze about $1.56 billion linked to the Binance breach.
Crypto watchers report that at least $2 billion has been drained from Binance's hot wallets, which are internet-connected cryptocurrency storage units. Some estimates suggest losses could climb as high as $5.7 billion, though figures remain unconfirmed and the theft may still be ongoing.
Stock photo for illustration only, not from the actual event
It remains unclear who orchestrated the attack, and Binance has not disclosed whether it received any communications from the hackers. If confirmed in the billions, this breach would rank among the largest crypto heists in history according to tracking leaderboards. By comparison, hackers previously stole a record $1.4 billion in a single 2025 breach from the Bybit exchange, an incident blamed on North Korean threat actors.
"Rest assured that user funds are completely safe."
Binance
From a cybersecurity perspective, massive cryptocurrency heists of this scale highlight the inherent structural vulnerabilities of internet-connected hot wallets. Even with robust institutional safeguards in place, third-party software dependencies and supply chain vectors continue to present critical avenues for sophisticated threat actors aiming to liquidate digital assets rapidly.
In what appeared to be a separate incident earlier on Thursday, prediction market giant Polymarket briefly halted trading and paused withdrawals after confirming a third-party compromise. Security researchers disclosed that hackers stole approximately $2 million in user funds after compromising software developed by a firm named DebugBear.
Source: TechCrunch
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