$643.3 Million Leaves U.S. Spot Bitcoin Funds in Biggest Outflow Since June
Key Facts
U.S. spot Bitcoin funds saw net outflows of $643.3 million on Friday, October 30, their largest daily net outflow since June 25, according to The Block. Net outflows from the funds for the week ended October 30 totaled $202.6 million. The move coincided with Binance disclosing the previous day that its hot wallets had been hacked, but the timing does not prove the incident alone caused the withdrawals. The company said its losses in digital assets were nearly $6.3 billion. Farside recorded total outflows of $643.2 million that day, including $233.7 million from IBIT and $201 million from FBTC.
Binance said the hack occurred at around 20:05 UTC on October 29 and affected its hot wallets. The company estimated the value of the digital assets it lost at about $6.3 billion. In an alert about the incident, the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation attributed the theft of more than $6 billion in virtual assets from Binance to North Korea and named the activity TraderTraitor. The official attribution gives the incident a broader security dimension beyond its direct impact on the platform, as the market also focused on flows in cryptocurrency-linked funds.
Binance said it had allocated more than $6.34 billion in company funds to cover the losses, adding that $5 billion of that amount was held in the affected assets themselves. It said about $3 billion in assets had been frozen on-chain as of its October 30 update. In a subsequent update dated October 31, the company said the share of affected assets it had repurchased had risen to 90%. It also said it expected to publish its full proof of reserves on November 3, 2026, at UTC+8, a stated follow-up date for the company’s response to the incident.
Outflows also extended to spot Ethereum funds, which recorded net outflows of $155.9 million on Friday, their largest daily withdrawal since October 7, according to The Block. Weekly outflows from those funds totaled $431.5 million for the week ended October 30. Still, a Laevitas analyst said a $643 million outflow from Bitcoin funds amounted to less than 1% of their $98.14 billion in net assets. The analyst described the move as a day of risk reduction, not evidence of investor capitulation or a loss of institutional confidence. A Zeus Research analyst said a recovery in flows would require greater market stability, a restoration of liquidity and stronger investor confidence, while a Laevitas analyst said caution could persist in the near term.
Cryptocurrency prices fell around the time of the incident. The Associated Press said Bitcoin fell 3.2% on Thursday evening, October 29, to below $79,000 after Binance announced it was investigating a report of a potential security issue. The following day, Bitcoin fell to a six-week low of $77,646, while Ether reached a two-month low of $2,238.76, according to figures reported by Reuters via MarketScreener. EL7 data showed BTCUSD closing at 77,368.77 on October 30, compared with a close of 81,343.5 on October 28. In extended U.S. trading after the hack, Coinbase shares fell 4.8% and Strategy shares dropped about 6%, Reuters reported.
The market moves came in a week marked by the release of U.S. economic data and a series of political and economic dates. The personal consumption expenditures price index rose 0.5% in September from August and was up 3.6% year over year; the core index rose 0.3% monthly and 3.1% annually, according to the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis. Initial jobless claims data released on October 29 showed claims falling to 194,000 in the previous week, their lowest level since mid-July, while layoffs remained low. Real gross domestic product grew at an annual rate of 3.4% in the third quarter, compared with 2.2% in the second quarter. This gives the market a basis for assessing digital-asset flows alongside inflation, labor and broader economic indicators.
Attention now turns to the federal general election scheduled for Tuesday, November 3, 2026. A Block analyst linked the balance of power in Congress after the election to the course of cryptocurrency market-structure legislation, pointing to the possibility that its progress could be affected by the political results. The U.S. October jobs report is due on November 6, and a FactSet poll had forecast 55,000 jobs added. The next personal income and spending report, which includes October data, is scheduled for November 25, 2026. A Zeus Research analyst said a recovery in fund flows would depend on improvements in market stability, liquidity and investor confidence.