68.01 Billion PEPE Transferred From Binance-Linked Address Amid Security Probe
Key Facts
About 68.01 billion PEPE tokens were transferred from an address described by Bitcoin Sistemi coverage as a hot wallet linked to Binance to a liquidity pool, coinciding with the exchange’s investigation into reports of a potential security issue. Transaction details showed about 135.34 WETH being converted to ETH after the tokens were transferred, according to the coverage. The movement alone does not establish that the entire PEPE amount was sold; the source describes a transfer to a liquidity pool and provides no evidence that the full balance was sold. Binance said it was investigating reports of the incident and stressed that user funds were safe. The transfer comes as movements linked to the exchange and their implications for the cryptocurrency market continue to be monitored.
Binance, the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange, said it was investigating reports of a potential security issue, while a spokesperson said that “user funds are completely safe.” The Associated Press reported, however, that the exchange had not explicitly confirmed a theft of funds and that the scale of any potential damage was unclear at the time its report was published. That places transfers attributed to addresses linked to the exchange in the context of an incident under investigation, rather than confirmed user losses. The verified official Binance LATAM account also said relevant teams were investigating the reports and that the exchange would publish updates after verifying the information. The exchange’s available account has focused on the safety of customer funds and the ongoing investigation, without confirming details of losses or a completed breach.
As part of the response to the potential incident, Binance said the total funds frozen and verified had reached $2.54 billion on the evening of Oct. 29, with the figure potentially rising. Tether said it had frozen tokens worth more than $1.5 billion linked to what its chief executive described as a “potential Binance exchange hack.” Circle’s chief executive said the company had frozen tokens worth more than $800 million linked to the incident, in coordination with law enforcement. The measures show the widening effort by different companies to contain assets linked to the potential incident. Binance said deposits and withdrawals had been temporarily suspended while it conducted security checks, froze funds and worked with law enforcement.
The disruption also extended to major cryptocurrency prices on Oct. 29. The Associated Press reported that Bitcoin fell 3.2% on Thursday evening to below $79,000. In its coverage of moves over one hour, CoinDesk reported Bitcoin down 2% at $78,800, Ether down 3% and BNB down 6%. The figures cover different measurement periods in the two reports, but both track simultaneous declines in major assets amid market turmoil. The sources did not provide a figure for PEPE’s move over the same period that could be directly linked to the reported transfer.
Available closing data for PEPE offer a different comparison from the sharp decline described in the previous draft. The token closed at $0.00000503 on Oct. 28, then at $0.00000529 on Oct. 29, according to EL7 data. A day earlier, PEPE rose 9.4% and led the CoinDesk 100, after CoinDesk linked the rally to a report that wallets associated with Justin Sun held about $51 million worth of the token. The earlier gain and subsequent closing prices place the token among market swings in the days surrounding the incident.
CoinDesk coverage published on Oct. 29 cited an Arkham estimate that reported transfers from Binance wallets involved more than $5.7 billion worth of crypto assets. That estimate refers to the value of assets covered by the report, while Binance said the funds it had frozen and verified by the evening of Oct. 29 totaled $2.54 billion. The exchange said the total frozen could rise as it continued its checks, suspended deposits and withdrawals, and coordinated with law enforcement. The data did not specify when deposits and withdrawals would resume. The Binance LATAM account said updates would follow after the information had been verified.