Live Updates: Binance hit by largest crypto hack in history

Follow live updates as Binance investigates a multibillion-dollar hack and Tether and Circle freeze more than $2.36 billion in stablecoins.

What we know about the Binance hack:

• Binance has been hit by a suspected multibillion-dollar hack, with losses estimated between $2.4 billion and $5.8 billion.
• Circle, Tether and World Liberty Financial have helped to freeze millions in stablecoins.
• The incident did not impact Binance.US.

Oct. 29 at 10:36 pm UTC

World Liberty Financial freezes $27M in USD1

World Liberty Financial has frozen $27 million in US-dollar-pegged stablecoin USD1 and $2 million worth of WLFI, according to Binance co-founder Yi He.

“USD1 has taken proactive steps to freeze the $27 million in USD1 associated with the Binance hack,” said World Liberty Financial co-founder and CEO Zach Witkoff.

World Liberty Financial said it worked with BitGo to freeze the stolen WLFI and USD1 funds.

“We will cooperate fully with the ongoing investigation and support efforts to hold those responsible accountable. Protecting our users remains a top priority,” said World Liberty in a post on X.

Oct. 29 at 10:32 pm UTC

Aave freezes v3 and v4 lending markets

Decentralized lending protocol Aave has temporarily frozen its lending markets, reportedly in connection with the Binance hack.

In a notice on the platform, Aave said that certain assets are “temporarily frozen or paused by Aave community decisions.”

Aave said this means further supply / borrow or rate swaps of the assets are unavailable, while withdrawals and debt repayments are allowed.

The freeze came after a wallet linked to the hack reportedly deposited 60 million USDT into Aave and borrowed 19,762 ETH, according to Odysseus, founder of Phylax Systems.

Oct. 29 at 9:19 pm UTC

Binance investigates $5.8 billion security breach

Binance is investigating a potential multibillion-dollar security breach involving one of its Ethereum wallets, after suspicious transfers prompted stablecoin issuers Tether and Circle to reportedly freeze billions in assets.

A Binance spokesperson told Cointelegraph on Thursday that the exchange was investigating reports of a potential security issue but had not confirmed any impact on user funds. The spokesperson said its security teams were reviewing the activity and would provide updates once more information was verified.

Concerns were first raised by blockchain researcher Spreek, who posted on X that assets from a Binance-linked Ethereum wallet had been transferred to a newly created address through a contract call allegedly funded by Tornado Cash. Spreek later reported that wallets connected to the transfers had begun selling Tether USDt (USDT) through decentralized exchanges.

Blockchain analytics platform Arkham Intelligence later identified a collection of wallets labeled “binance-hacker-1029” holding approximately $5.84 billion in digital assets. The figure represents the wallets’ reported holdings rather than a confirmed estimate of stolen funds.

Binance co-founder Changpeng Zhao said the activity appeared to be a hack, adding that Tether and Circle had frozen approximately $971 million and $823 million, respectively. Zhao said he expected all user funds to be fully covered.

Source: Arkham Intelligence

Tether, Circle freeze over $2.36 billion as Binance outflows reach $3.3 billion

Blockchain security firm Blockaid said its team had identified roughly $3.3 billion in suspicious transfers involving Binance-linked wallets across Ethereum, Arbitrum and Avalanche.

Shortly after news of the hack emerged, Tether and Circle, the two largest stablecoin issuers by market capitalization, said they had frozen a combined $2.36 billion in tokens linked to the suspected incident.

Circle CEO Jeremy Allaire said the company had frozen more than $800 million in USDC in coordination with law enforcement and would continue supporting the investigation.

A few minutes later, Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino said the company had frozen more than $1.567 billion in USDT linked to the potential exploit.

“Protecting the industry and our partners is our main priority,” Ardoino wrote.

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