Key Takeaways
- Billions of dollars’ worth of cryptocurrency left Binance wallets on Thursday, per onchain data and analysts.
- Binance acknowledged a “potential security issue” but did not share specific details.
- Binance founder Changpeng Zhao said it “does look like a hack.”
Binance founder and former CEO Changpeng “CZ” Zhao wrote on X that it “does look like a hack on Binance,” but that “user funds are safe.”
“Our teams are aware of reports of a potential security issue and are actively investigating,” Binance wrote. “Our security teams are reviewing all relevant information with urgency, and we will provide updates through official Binance channels as soon as we have verified information.”
Analysts pegged the total amount of cryptocurrency drained from Binance wallets between approximately $2.5 billion and perhaps over $3 billion, though no official figures have been provided yet.
Zhao said that swiped stablecoin holdings have already been frozen in the amounts of about $971 million worth of Tether’s USDT and $823 million worth of Circle’s USDC. However, Tether CEO Paolo Andoino later wrote that his company “froze more than 1.567 billion USDT related to a potential Binance exchange hack.”
Editor’s note: This story is breaking and will be updated with additional details.
