Breaking: Binance hacked for about $6.3 billion, withdrawals halted and bitcoin drops 4.27%

Breaking: Binance hit by a theft of about $6.3 billion

On October 29, 2026, Binance, the world's largest crypto exchange, reported a security incident involving a theft of about $6.3 billion. CNBC calls it the largest crypto hack on record. According to the latest press reports, withdrawals have been suspended since around 22:15 UTC that day. Bitcoin ended the session down 4.27% on volume 2.03 times the previous week's average.

The story is still developing and every figure is preliminary. Updated October 30, 2026.

Timeline of what is known

• October 29, ~22:15 UTC: withdrawals are suspended, according to the most recent press reports.
• Binance acknowledges the theft of about $6.3 billion. TRM Labs puts it higher, at about $6.36 billion moved across ten blockchains, most of it in roughly 20 minutes.
• Circle and Tether freeze affected funds, CNBC reports.
• October 30, 04:17 UTC: co-CEO Richard Teng says withdrawals should return within about 48 hours. A later update says about 45 hours, pointing to Sunday, November 1 at around 05:47 UTC (AMBCrypto, CryptoTimes). The timing may change.

Bitcoin: down 4.27% on twice the volume

According to Alpha Vantage data (daily sessions in UTC), bitcoin went from closing October 28 at $81,249.31 to closing October 29 at $77,780.33. Crypto media link the drop to the hack news.

Session (UTC)	High	Low	Close	Volume (BTC)
Oct 28	$81,715.01	$80,270.68	$81,249.31	5,147.0
Oct 29	$81,890.00	$77,699.00	$77,780.33	9,933.6
Oct 30 (partial)	$78,083.81	$76,600.00	$77,044.95	955.6

Three readings from the table:

• October 29 fell 4.27% from the previous close, and the gap between the day's high and low was 5.12%.
• Volume was 9,933.6 BTC, about 2.03 times the average of the previous seven sessions (October 22 to 28: 4,887.7 BTC). It is the highest of the eleven sessions checked, going back to October 20.
• October 30 printed a low of $76,600.00, the lowest of that period. The session was incomplete when queried (last data point at 00:00 UTC), so that figure may change. Measured from the October 28 close, the latest bitcoin price ($77,044.95) is 5.17% lower.

BNB and leveraged positions

Alpha Vantage does not cover BNB, so the figures for Binance's own coin come from the press: some outlets put it down 5% to 7%, at around $698. One cryptoticker analysis estimates about $628 million of leveraged positions liquidated in one hour. These figures vary with the time of measurement.

What is confirmed and what is not

• Theft of about $6.3 billion: acknowledged by Binance and reported by TechCrunch, Axios, CNBC and Bloomberg.
• Customer funds: Binance says they are safe and that it will absorb losses using its SAFU fund and corporate reserves. This is the company's own statement and has not been independently verified.
• Frozen funds: sources disagree. Binance and its partners cite about $3 billion (also FinanceFeeds), Al Jazeera cites $2.54 billion and ABC News about $4.2 billion.
• Deposits: early notices said they were suspended, and later updates say they are operating normally.
• Entry point, unconfirmed: Binance's preliminary investigation points to a compromised laptop of a DevOps engineer. Teng says the attack was more complex and that there is no evidence of a private key leak.
• Attribution, unconfirmed: TRM Labs attributes it to North Korea's TraderTraitor group with "high confidence", and Chainalysis CEO Jonathan Levin calls it likely. Binance has not named an attacker.

What it means if you hold crypto on an exchange

• Custody risk. Holding crypto on an exchange depends on the platform's operational security, not just the blockchain.
• Precedent. The FBI tied TraderTraitor to the Bybit hack. If attribution is confirmed, this would be another hit by the group on a centralized platform.
• Solvency. At least one analyst quoted in the press sees no meaningful risk for Binance for now, given the reserves announced. That is an opinion, not a fact.
• Beware of fake notices. Episodes like this are often used for scams. Rely only on Binance's official channels.

What to watch

1. The reopening of withdrawals. The latest estimate points to Sunday, November 1, but the timeline has already changed once.
2. The final frozen-funds figure, currently between $2.54 and $4.2 billion depending on the source.
3. Official confirmation of the entry point and the attribution.
4. Bitcoin's recent extremes: $76,600.00 (the October 30 low) and $77,699.00 (the October 29 low). If the market returns to those levels, the reaction to this hack is still open.

Conclusion

The theft of about $6.3 billion from Binance is, according to CNBC, the largest crypto hack on record, and the market reacted within hours: bitcoin fell 4.27% on October 29 on 2.03 times its usual volume and touched $76,600.00 the next day. What is still unclear weighs as much as what is known: how many funds are frozen, how the attackers got in, and when users will be able to withdraw. Until Binance confirms, any figure that does not come from the company or a verifiable source should be treated as provisional.

Sources

• TechCrunch
• Axios
• CNBC: Circle and Tether freeze
• CNBC: what happens next
• Bloomberg
• CoinDesk
• Al Jazeera
• ABC News
• TRM Labs
• Cointelegraph
• FinanceFeeds
• AMBCrypto
• CryptoTimes
• Bitcoin prices and volumes: Alpha Vantage (DIGITAL_CURRENCY_DAILY, BTC/USD).

This article is informational and is not investment advice. Cryptocurrencies are highly volatile, high-risk assets.