Binance investigates potential multibillion-dollar crypto theft as issuers freeze over $2.3B

Cryptocurrency exchange Binance said on October 29, 2026 that it is investigating reports of a potential security breach, after blockchain trackers flagged suspicious transfers that one intelligence firm values at as much as $5.8 billion. According to BleepingComputer, which spoke with the company, the figure is not a confirmed loss but the total value of wallets that analysts have tied to the incident. If any significant theft is verified, it could surpass the $1.5 billion Bybit heist of February 2025 — attributed to North Korean hackers — as the largest confirmed crypto theft on record.

What happened

BleepingComputer reports that the $5.8 billion estimate comes from blockchain intelligence firm Arkham, which is tracking 55 addresses it labeled binance-hacker-1029. Reported holdings across those wallets include roughly $1.77 billion in USDT, $1.44 billion in Bitcoin, $876 million in Ethereum and $823 million in USDC. The outlet stresses that this represents the value of tracked wallets rather than a confirmed amount stolen. A separate report cited by BleepingComputer put the total nearer $3.48 billion after a later wallet transfer was added.

Citing crypto journalist StarPlatinum on X, the report says a Binance hot wallet known as "Binance 14" moved about $2.53 billion across 64 tokens, and that roughly $174.4 million left a second Binance wallet 24 seconds later. A follow-up claim described a third hot wallet sending 780 million USDC to the same newly created Ethereum address. BleepingComputer notes that Etherscan labeled the initial receiving address "Binance Hot Wallet Exploiter 2" and tagged it "Exploit" and "Heist."

The response so far

Stablecoin issuers moved quickly. Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino said on X that the company had frozen more than $1.567 billion in USDT linked to the potential hack, while Circle CEO Jeremy Allaire said Circle had frozen more than $800 million in USDC and was coordinating with law enforcement. Together, BleepingComputer reports, more than $2.3 billion was frozen. Binance founder Changpeng Zhao said on X that the incident appeared to be a hack, adding that he no longer manages the exchange and that he expects all user funds to be fully covered.

A Binance spokesperson told BleepingComputer: "Our teams are aware of reports of a potential security issue and are actively investigating," adding, "Rest assured that user funds are completely safe," and that the company "will provide updates through official Binance channels as soon as we have verified information."

What to watch

As of BleepingComputer's report, Binance had not confirmed whether the transfers were unauthorized, how a suspected breach may have occurred, or how much — if anything — was actually stolen. No technical details about an attack method have been released, and the attacker is identified only by blockchain labels assigned by third parties. Much of the timeline rests on social-media posts by analysts and journalists rather than official confirmation, so the figures may change as the investigation proceeds. Binance also warned customers to beware of opportunistic scams and to avoid unofficial links, messages or requests for account information while the situation develops. Users should rely only on official Binance channels for updates and treat any unsolicited "recovery" or "verification" outreach as a likely scam.