$643.3 Million Leaves US Spot Bitcoin Funds in Biggest Outflow Since June
Key Facts
US spot bitcoin funds recorded net outflows of $643.3 million on October 30, their largest daily withdrawal since June 25, according to data cited by The Block. The move followed a security incident at Binance, but the events’ timing does not prove the incident caused the outflows. The figures alone also do not mean investors began a broad liquidation of positions. Farside data showed outflows concentrated in three major funds. On the same day, the move extended to spot ether funds.
IBIT recorded outflows of $233.7 million, followed by FBTC with $201.0 million and ARKB with about $129.5 million, according to Farside Investors data. The figures show that IBIT and FBTC were the two largest individual contributors to the net withdrawal, with ARKB a clear third. Net outflows from spot ether funds totaled $155.9 million on October 30, their largest since October 7, according to The Block. The withdrawal wave thus included spot products tied to the two largest cryptocurrencies by market capitalization. BlackRock, which owns IBIT, closed at $1147.54 on October 30, according to EL7 data.
In the four days before the outflow session, bitcoin funds recorded mixed flows but ended with aggregate net inflows, according to Farside data. The net withdrawal on October 30 was therefore a sharp one-day reversal after that period, not a documented continuation of sustained outflows. An analyst at Laevitas commented that the withdrawal, at about $643 million, was less than 1% of spot bitcoin funds’ net assets. The analyst described the move as risk reduction, not capitulation or evidence that institutions had lost confidence. This estimate puts the flows in the context of the funds’ assets, while keeping the interpretation of investors’ motives attributed to the analyst.
Binance estimated the incident’s total impact at about $6.3 billion and said in an update that the company and blockchain industry partners had frozen about $3 billion of affected assets on-chain, according to the Associated Press. The agency reported that Binance said its initial investigation suggested the incident may have involved a hacked laptop belonging to an engineer in the development operations department, which allowed the attacker to access a service container and send unauthorized withdrawal transactions. The company said it had found no evidence that wallet private keys had been compromised. It added that it would publish further technical details after the investigation was complete and the facts had been verified. Circle and Tether also announced that they had frozen funds linked to the incident worth more than $800 million and $1.5 billion, respectively, according to the Associated Press.
In the market, bitcoin fell 3.2% on the evening of October 29 to below $79,000, according to the Associated Press. EL7 data showed it closed at $77368.77 on October 30 and then at $78354 on November 1. Binance said withdrawal volumes had declined and stabilized after an initial increase, with deposits of $1 billion recorded against withdrawals of about $4.6 billion on Sunday, according to Reuters via Investing.com. Bitcoin recovered some of its losses over the weekend after hitting a six-week low on Friday, trading above $78,000 on Monday. The same report said more than $1.3 billion in leveraged positions were liquidated after the incident.
A HashKey analyst said the incident had not yet triggered widespread panic or a concentrated wave of withdrawals, but pointed to the possibility that its effect on market confidence could extend to decisions by institutions and market makers, according to Reuters. On next steps, Binance said it would cover losses from the SAFU fund and company funds, that user funds were safe, and that it intended to publish a proof-of-reserves update after remediation was complete. In a later update, the company said its investigation had uncovered additional breach points after the initial assessment and that it was working with security experts to establish the sequence of the attack and measures to prevent a recurrence. It said its priority was to secure the trading environment before enabling withdrawals and resuming operations, while withdrawals remained partially suspended for most cryptocurrencies, according to Reuters. A Laevitas analyst expected flows to stabilize or register limited outflows in the near term rather than quickly return to inflows, as long as the breach remained contained in its current state.
The Binance incident follows the February 2025 hack of the Bybit platform, which caused a loss of $1.5 billion, according to the Associated Press. That earlier incident places the Binance case among a series of major hacks targeting cryptocurrency exchanges. In Binance’s case, the company said the total impact was estimated at about $6.3 billion, with about $3 billion of affected assets frozen on-chain. Further details on the sequence of the attack remain contingent on completion of the investigation, which the company said it is conducting with security experts. Binance also linked the resumption of operations and the security of the trading environment to enabling user withdrawals, and said it would publish a proof-of-reserves update after remediation was complete.