$3.55 Billion in Suspected Transfers Put Binance Under Security Investigation
Key Facts
Binance said it is investigating reports of a potential security issue, assuring users that their funds are safe after blockchain data showed large transfers to an unknown wallet. Spreek analyst estimated the value of transfers into the wallet at about $3.55 billion on October 29, 2026, according to a report by The Block. The report tracked the subsequent transfer of nearly $900 million to other wallets. Binance has not confirmed that the transfers were unauthorized or that funds were stolen, so these estimates do not represent verified losses. The company’s statement came as Tether and Circle announced freezes of stablecoins linked to the incident, a step that restricts the movement of some assets without establishing that they have been recovered.
Binance said in a statement on its official Binance Square account that its teams were monitoring and investigating reports of a potential security incident, adding that user funds were "completely safe." The company did not announce a general suspension of withdrawals in the statement available, nor did it confirm a theft. Some withdrawal issues experienced by users were linked to a technical error, according to a separate report by The Associated Press. As of the agency’s publication time, the extent of any damage attackers may have caused was unclear. The agency said Binance had not explicitly confirmed that funds were looted, leaving the nature and final outcome of the transfers under investigation.
Tether and Circle froze stablecoins worth more than $2.38 billion in total on Thursday, October 29, according to Reuters. This included nearly $1.57 billion frozen by Tether and more than $800 million frozen by Circle. The freezes followed Binance’s announcement that it was investigating the potential security issue. Freezing these coins restricts the movement of assets that reports said were linked to the incident, but does not establish that the measure covered all suspected transfers. Nor does the freeze confirm that the funds were returned to their owners or that potential losses were reimbursed.
Binance co-founder Changpeng Zhao described the incident as "looking like a hack," Reuters reported, noting that he no longer runs the company. Zhao said, as a shareholder, that he expected users’ funds to be fully covered; this was his personal view, not confirmation by Binance that a hack had occurred or an estimate of any losses. Binance, for its part, said user funds were safe and that it was investigating the reports. Binance.US, a separate platform, said it was unaffected by the incident. The statement distinguishes the U.S. platform from the entity Binance said was investigating the issue.
Bitcoin fell 3.2% on Thursday evening, dropping below $79,000, according to The Associated Press. The move provides a dated indicator of the cryptocurrency’s performance during the period when reports of the incident emerged, but does not prove that the incident was the sole cause of the decline. The agency did not document broad pressure on the cryptocurrency market or general concerns about Binance’s liquidity and stability in the available reports. Binance has said it has more than 335 million registered users worldwide, according to a Reuters report citing the company’s website. That figure puts the company’s assurances about user funds in the context of the global customer base it is addressing during the investigation.
The incident has brought renewed attention to a previous security breach Binance disclosed on May 7, 2019, when it said attackers had withdrawn 7,000 Bitcoin in a single transaction. The company said at the time that it would cover the loss from its SAFU fund and that user funds would not be affected. It also said deposits and withdrawals would remain suspended during a security review expected to take about a week. Those measures concerned the 2019 incident and do not establish that withdrawals have been suspended in the current case. This time, the announced position is that Binance is investigating a potential issue while affirming that user funds are safe.
Binance said it would publish updates through its official channels once the information had been verified. The expected developments center on clarifying the cause of the observed transfers and whether they were authorized, as well as determining the scale of any potential losses. The scope of the funds frozen by Tether and Circle, and how closely they are linked to the suspected transfers, also remain questions that may be clarified as more information emerges. Until then, the $3.55 billion figure remains an estimate of transfers into an unknown wallet, not a confirmed amount of stolen funds. Binance did not specify when it would publish its next update.