Binance freezes $3bn in Crypto assets after a suspected hack rattles markets
Binance just froze $3bn in assets after a suspected security breach.
The short version
- Deposits and withdrawals are paused while teams investigate the issue.
- Tether and Circle locked another $2.4bn linked to the event.
- Bitcoin dropped 5% following the alerts across the industry.
Cryptocurrency giant Binance, the world's largest Crypto exchange by daily trading volumes, said on Thursday that it has frozen digital assets worth around $3bn to prevent them from being stolen while it investigates a security issue. According to the BBC, the company announced that all deposits and withdrawals are temporarily suspended while its teams conduct security checks, adding that the firm will cover all losses.
Changpeng Zhao, Binance's former boss who remains a majority shareholder of the firm, said it does look like a hack on Binance. Two other major Crypto platforms, Tether and Circle, said they have also frozen a total of about $2.4bn of assets in response to the potential Binance hack.
Circle, the issuer and co-creator of the USDC, one of the world's largest US dollar-backed cryptocurrencies, locked more than $800m in assets linked to the incident. Circle chief executive Jeremy Allaire said his firm is closely tracking reports of a potential exploit involving Binance.
Meanwhile, Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino said his firm has frozen around $1.6bn related to a potential Binance exchange hack. Tether issues a cryptocurrency known as USDT. Binance said the amount of funds frozen may continue to increase as its teams work closely with law enforcement and other partners to trace and seize additional assets.
Bitcoin dropped by around 5% following the alerts, and the price of other major cryptocurrencies including Ethereum and Solana also fell sharply. Binance told users that funds are safe and that a full post-mortem will be shared once the investigation is complete.
Photo: Bretwa, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
