Binance Confirms $2.54 Billion Frozen, Temporarily Suspends Deposits and Withdrawals
Key Facts
Binance said Thursday evening, October 29, that the total amount of funds it had confirmed frozen reached $2.54 billion, raising the figure Reuters reported for Tether and Circle combined, which was more than $2.38 billion. The platform said the total could continue to rise as assets are tracked and frozen, while it investigates reports of a potential security issue. Binance temporarily suspended all deposits and withdrawals to conduct security checks, freeze funds and work with law enforcement. The company said user funds are "completely safe" and that its security teams are reviewing the information and will issue updates once it has been verified. At the same time, Binance had not explicitly confirmed that funds were stolen in the coverage conveying its position, so the amount frozen remained separate from any final estimate of losses.
Binance's update came after stablecoin issuers announced freezes of assets linked to the incident. Tether's chief executive said the company froze the equivalent of more than $1.5 billion on Thursday, while Circle said it froze the equivalent of more than $800 million in coordination with law enforcement. Those figures are part of the total Binance later confirmed, but they do not on their own establish how much money may have been stolen or the fate of assets that were not frozen. Yi He, Binance's co-founder, said Ripple froze about $200 million. She added that Binance would cover all losses resulting from the breach as the investigation continues. The actions by companies and entities linked to cryptocurrencies put efforts to track the funds at the center of the response, as Binance continues to review the incident.
The temporary measures extended beyond deposits and withdrawals: Binance also suspended trading on its Binance Alpha platform as a precaution, Reuters reported. The company said it would resume withdrawals once the security issue was fully resolved, without giving a specific date for their return. That means the timing depends on the outcome of the security checks Binance said it was conducting. In a separate statement, Yi He said World Liberty Financial froze $27 million in stablecoins and about $2 million in its tokens linked to the incident. Those amounts were cited alongside the figures for Tether, Circle and Ripple, while the total Binance confirmed remained $2.54 billion. The statements did not give a final estimate of losses resulting from the incident.
Changpeng Zhao, Binance's co-founder, described the incident as appearing to be a breach and said he expected user funds to be fully covered in his capacity as a shareholder. His comments came alongside the company's assurance that user funds were safe, while the investigation continued. Reuters reported that Binance.US, a platform separate from Binance, said it was not affected by the security incident. Reuters also reported, citing Binance's website, that the platform had more than 335 million registered users worldwide at the time of its report on October 29. That figure provides context for the size of the company's user base addressed in its statements, but what happened to the assets remains dependent on the investigation's findings. Binance had not explicitly confirmed that a theft had occurred in the coverage conveying the company's statements.
Reports of the incident coincided with a decline in cryptocurrency prices. The Associated Press said Bitcoin fell 3.2% Thursday evening to below $79,000. In a Reuters report on trading on Friday, October 30, Bitcoin fell to $77,646, its lowest level in six weeks, Ether dropped to $2,238.76, its lowest in two months, and BNB lost more than 8% over 24 hours. These figures describe market snapshots at two different times: Bitcoin's decline on Thursday evening, followed by the lows and losses Reuters reported the next day. The moves came as reports of the security issue circulated, but they do not by themselves establish that the incident caused prices to fall.
TRM Labs' data provides background on the scale of recorded thefts in the sector during the year before the incident. Its 2026 Crypto Crime Report estimated that illicit actors stole $2.87 billion in about 150 hacks and exploits in 2025. The Bybit incident in February that year accounted for $1.46 billion, or 51% of the total funds stolen, according to the report. These figures provide context on past incidents and are not an estimate of Binance's current losses. Looking ahead, Binance said it would resume withdrawals when the security issue was fully resolved and that it would issue updates once the information had been verified. The company had not published a final estimate of damages in the available coverage.