Binance: $3bn frozen after suspected hack, deposits halted

Binance said on Thursday it has frozen digital assets worth around $3bn (£2.24bn) to stop them being stolen while it investigates a security issue. The company posted a series of alerts online. In them it said all deposits and withdrawals are temporarily suspended while its teams run security checks. Binance also said it will cover all losses. The exchange has not said how much may have been taken. It said users' funds are safe and that it is working with law enforcement and other partners to trace and seize more assets. The amount frozen may keep rising, according to the company.

Two other major crypto platforms said they have also frozen assets. Tether and Circle reported a combined total of about $2.4bn in response to the potential Binance hack. Circle chief executive Jeremy Allaire said his firm is closely tracking reports of a potential exploit involving Binance. He said Circle has frozen more than $800m in assets linked to the incident. Circle issues and co-created USDC, one of the largest dollar-backed cryptocurrencies. Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino said his firm has frozen around $1.6bn related to a potential Binance exchange hack. He said protecting the industry and its partners is the main priority. Tether issues USDT.

Binance has not put a figure on what was potentially stolen. Some crypto experts have put it at over $5bn. Glassnode, a digital asset advisory firm, estimated the hack concerns a total of $5.3bn in crypto. New York-based blockchain analytics firm Chainalysis estimated that more than $5.9bn has been stolen. Binance's former boss Changpeng Zhao, known as CZ, said on X: "It does look like a hack." Zhao no longer manages the firm but remains a key shareholder. Several crypto industry observers had flagged concerns about a potential hack on Binance hours before the exchange confirmed the security issue.

Bitcoin dropped by around 5% following the alerts. The price of other major cryptocurrencies, including Ethereum and Solana, also fell sharply. The security incident concerns Binance.com. The much smaller platform Binance.US, which provides trading services specifically for American residents, said its platform is not affected by the issue. Binance is the world's largest crypto exchange by daily trading volumes. It was founded in China by Zhao in 2017 and is estimated to have more than 300 million registered users worldwide. The company said in 2024 that it has more than $160bn in assets under custody.

Binance said its teams are working around the clock. It said it will share a full post-mortem once the investigation is complete. The firm asked users to rely only on official Binance channels for updates. The exchange has been subject of regulatory scrutiny around the world. Chainalysis's estimate of more than $5.9bn stolen is nearly four times the value of crypto stolen from Dubai-based exchange Bybit in 2025. That incident was record-breaking and has been attributed to hackers linked to North Korea. What remains to be confirmed is the final size of the loss and when deposits and withdrawals will reopen.