By Nina Shah
Bitcoin declined after Binance, the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange, disclosed a major security breach that resulted in $6.3 billion being taken from its platforms - the largest crypto theft on record in dollar terms.
Prices pared some losses once Binance said it had frozen roughly $3 billion of the affected funds and would absorb all user losses through its internal funds. Nonetheless, the world’s largest crypto traded lower, down 1.9% to $78,683.5 by 01:43 ET (05:43 GMT).
What was taken
Blockchain monitoring firm Coinglass reported that roughly $1.66 billion in USDT, 17,985 Bitcoin - valued at about $1.45 billion - and $767 million in USDC were removed from the exchange. Ether and a range of smaller alternative coins were also impacted, while Coinglass said balances in BNB - Binance’s native token - were left untouched.
Binance said deposits and withdrawals will remain suspended until it completes security checks. The company also said it had frozen about $3 billion of the affected funds and that user holdings themselves were unaffected.
Stablecoin operators took action to limit further movement. Circle said it had frozen over 800 million USDC tied to the incident, while Tether said it froze over 1.567 billion USDT.
Market reaction
The hack intensified selling pressure across crypto markets, which were already coping with hot U.S. inflation data and a broader tech-driven deterioration in risk appetite. The latest rout meant Bitcoin was on track to lose about 6% in October - a failure of the so-called "uptober" seasonal strength for a second consecutive year.
On the month Bitcoin was trading down about 6%, reversing gains achieved during the July-September quarter. By one measure in the report, Bitcoin remained roughly 50% below its record high reached in October 2025, having fallen nearly 4% during that month.
Altcoins and tokens
Wider crypto prices fell across the board amid concern that attackers could sell tokens drained from Binance.
- BNB - which had been hit as much as 8% intraday - trimmed losses and traded down 4.8% at $716.10 after Binance’s assurances.
- Ether fell 3.3% to $2,237.24.
- XRP declined 2.9% to $1.2566.
- Cardano and Solana were lower as well, with Solana down 2.2% and Cardano down 2.5%.
- Memecoins slipped: Dogecoin slid 2.4% and $TRUMP fell 7.4%.
Scale and context offered by Binance
Binance described the incident as a security event that required pausing withdrawals. The company said it will make customers whole by using its own internal funds. The $6.3 billion loss is more than four times larger than the $1.5 billion hack reported at Bybit in early-2025, making it the largest single crypto theft in dollar value on record.
In summary, the breach represents a substantial operational and market shock for the cryptocurrency ecosystem - leading to frozen assets, suspended services and near-term selling pressure across tokens whose balances were affected.
Important note on limits of available information
Available public reporting contains the figures and market moves cited above. Where details are limited in disclosure, the article reflects those limits rather than adding further attribution or interpretation beyond the reported statements and blockchain-tracking figures.