Binance sees $5.9 billion outflow amid reports of major crypto breach

Reports circulating on the X platform have tracked significant outflows from wallets belonging to Binance, the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange, across the Ethereum, Bitcoin, and Tron networks. The total outflow is estimated at around $5.9 billion, including approximately $1.45 billion in Bitcoin and $875 million in Ethereum, in what has been described by the market newsletter The Cubesi Letter as potentially the largest hack in cryptocurrency history.

Binance suspended withdrawals early Friday, citing a “potential security issue,” and assured users that “all funds are completely safe.” The company stated that the total amount of frozen, verified funds linked to the incident stands at $2.54 billion.

Binance founder Changpeng Zhao (CZ) said on X that losses “may be slightly over $1 billion,” adding that “they will be covered,” and noted that he is no longer managing the exchange.

Stablecoin issuers also moved to freeze assets tied to the incident. Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino announced the freezing of over $1.567 billion in USDT, while Circle said it had frozen more than $800 million in USDC in coordination with law enforcement. Ripple froze RLUSD holdings linked to the attackers, and $27 million in USD1 was also frozen.

Binance also temporarily suspended trading on its Binance Alpha service and some purchasing services. Binance US confirmed it was unaffected, as it operates independently.

Binance has yet to announce the final loss amount, identify those responsible, disclose the method of attack, or provide a timeline for resuming withdrawals.