Targeted by massive cyberattack, cryptocurrency giant Binance freezes operations and fears $6.3 billion in damage

The cryptocurrency exchange platform Binance confirmed, Thursday, October 29, that it had been the victim of a major hack, the damage of which is estimated at some 6.3 billion dollars (5.63 billion euros), half of the funds having been frozen to prevent a massive theft.

Binance published several contradictory messages on the X platform, first assuring that all funds deposited by customers on its site were “totally safe”, before announcing, a little later, that it would cover “all losses”. The platform then finally declared on its X account for Latin America that "the total amount allocated was approximately $6.3 billion."

“We have worked with partners specializing in blockchain to freeze the affected assets; approximately $3 billion has been frozen on-chain [blocked on the network] so far,” the press release adds. This would be four times the amount stolen, the largest cyberattack of its type to date. No less than 1.5 billion dollars were siphoned off in February 2025 from the Bybit platform, a theft attributed to hackers affiliated with North Korea.

The hectic price of cryptocurrencies

Around 1:30 a.m. Friday (Paris time), Binance announced that “all deposits and withdrawals” were “temporarily suspended.” “This amount could continue to increase as our teams work closely with authorities, issuers, data analysis companies and industry partners to identify and freeze additional assets” that may have been targeted, Binance added. “This looks like a cyberattack on Binance,” commented on X Changpeng Zhao, former boss of the platform who no longer holds operational functions but still remains a majority shareholder of the group. He estimated that losses linked to this assault could be "a little higher" than a billion dollars.

For several hours – before Binance confirmed the attack around 12:30 a.m. Friday – several specialists claimed that hackers had entered the platform. In this context, the prices of all major cryptocurrencies briefly declined, with the exception of stablecoins which can, by definition, only fluctuate within very small margins. After falling by almost 5% at the end of the American session, bitcoin recovered and lost only 0.83% around 6 a.m. while ether showed a slight decline of 0.81%. BNB, a cryptocurrency issued by Binance, rebounded by 2.67% after having fallen by almost 10%.