$1.53 Billion in Liquidations Pressure Bitcoin After $6.3 Billion Binance Breach
Key Facts
Crypto liquidations totaled $1.53 billion in the 24 hours through Friday morning in Asia, as bitcoin fell to a low near $76,460 on October 30 before recovering toward $78,500, CoinDesk reported, citing CoinGlass. Long positions, which bet on rising prices, accounted for 83.8% of total liquidations, indicating the sell-off wiped out leveraged bullish bets. The market pressure followed a security breach disclosed by Binance, which estimated the total impact at about $6.3 billion. The exchange temporarily suspended withdrawals during security checks and said user funds were safe and that it would cover losses from its SAFU fund and company funds. The episode combined widespread liquidations with a confidence and liquidity shock at the largest cryptocurrency exchange.
Liquidations were spread across bitcoin and ether positions, with bitcoin liquidations totaling about $499 million and ether $358 million over 24 hours. Binance alone recorded $754.6 million in liquidations, equivalent to 49.2% of the market total over the same period. These figures measure the forced closure of leveraged positions and are separate from Binance's estimate of $6.3 billion for the breach's total impact. The exchange said its partners had frozen about $3 billion of affected assets on-chain as of its October 30 update. The freeze was a measure to contain the movement of assets linked to the incident, while the exchange remained committed to covering losses.
In its second update on October 30, Binance said it had allocated more than $6.34 billion in company funds to cover losses, including $5 billion of the affected assets themselves. The company said in its initial investigation that a compromised laptop may have been involved, but said a subsequent investigation uncovered additional points of compromise. Its update said: "Our subsequent investigation uncovered additional points of compromise." Circle said it had frozen more than $800 million of the currency linked to the incident, while Tether's chief executive said his company had frozen more than $1.5 billion, according to the Associated Press. Reuters reported that about half of the stolen assets were stablecoins frozen by their issuers, limiting the attackers' ability to convert them to cash, without meaning the assets had been returned to Binance.
The bulk of the theft was concentrated over about 20 minutes, beginning shortly after 20:00 GMT on October 29, according to blockchain records cited by Reuters. TRM Labs said the attackers compromised the transaction-signing infrastructure, which authorizes transactions, allowing them to issue instructions that drained the affected wallets. Binance had not identified the attackers at the time. Comparing the incident with earlier breaches, a UOB Kay Hian executive said Mt. Gox lost nearly $500 million in bitcoin when it collapsed in 2014, and Bybit lost about $1.5 billion the previous year. Binance's current estimate was $6.3 billion, making the incident far larger than the two cases cited in the comparison.
The decline spread to cryptocurrency-linked stocks: Coinbase fell 4.8%, and Strategy dropped about 6% in extended U.S. trading on October 30, Reuters reported. In the same U.S. session, the S&P 500 fell 1.8%, its worst day since June, while the Nasdaq Composite lost 2.9% and the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 1.1%, according to the Associated Press. The agency attributed pressure on technology stocks to concerns that investor enthusiasm for artificial intelligence had pushed prices to high levels. Concerns that massive investments in the technology may not deliver sufficient profits and productivity also added to the pressure. A HashKey researcher said the disruption to deposits and withdrawals could affect market makers' ability to move capital between exchanges, while a GSR analyst pointed to wider spreads and weaker spot liquidity on the platform.
Bitcoin was down 8.4% in October through October 30 and was heading for a second consecutive monthly decline, CoinDesk reported; it had fallen 3.95% in October 2025. From 2013 to 2025, it rose in 10 of 13 Octobers, with an average return of 18.5% in positive October months, CoinDesk reported, citing CoinGlass. In an update published on October 31, Binance said it had restored coverage for 90% of the stolen assets and would continue buying the remaining assets through the market and over-the-counter trading until coverage reached 100% for all tokens. It said the remaining assets were less liquid and targeted resuming withdrawals in phases on Sunday, November 1, with a further update after details were confirmed. The proof-of-reserves snapshot was taken at midnight UTC on October 31 and showed coverage ratios of at least 100% for the listed tokens, while the exchange expected the cryptographic proof of reserves to be completed by November 3.