Binance Halts Withdrawals After $6.3 Billion Hack

Binance paused withdrawals on Friday, October 30, 2026, after it confirmed a cyberattack with estimated losses of $6.3 billion. The exchange said it froze about $3 billion in assets connected to the incident. Customers can log in and view balances, but they cannot move funds out while security checks continue.

Binance said it will cover all losses from company capital and the SAFU user protection fund, so clients will not pay for the incident. The company's initial investigation points to a compromised laptop belonging to a DevOps engineer. Binance said that access let attackers reach a service container and submit withdrawal transactions without authorization. The exchange added that it has found no evidence its wallet private keys were leaked. Its investigation continues and has identified additional vulnerable points beyond the laptop.

TRM Labs said with high confidence that the operation was carried out by TraderTraitor, a hacking group linked to North Korea, citing matches in on-chain and off-chain data with other thefts attributed to that country. Binance said the group's involvement has not been officially confirmed. The exchange is working with law enforcement and blockchain intelligence firms to trace assets and identify those responsible.

Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino said his company froze about $1.6 billion related to a possible Binance attack. Circle CEO Jeremy Allaire said Circle blocked more than $800 million in USDC. Binance said it is cooperating with blockchain analytics firms, digital asset issuers and authorities to locate more funds, and it promised a detailed technical report once verification is complete. The exchange also said it will publish an updated Proof of Reserves after fixing the vulnerabilities.

Crypto prices fell after the incident became public. Bitcoin dropped to its lowest level in six weeks before recovering part of the decline, Ether reached its lowest quote in two months, and BNB, the exchange's token, fell about 6.1%. In pre-market trading before U.S. markets opened, Coinbase shares lost about 5.2%, Strategy fell 5.1%, and Robinhood, Hut 8 and Riot Platforms declined close to 5%.

Binance said user funds are secure and that withdrawals are expected to resume within 48 hours. That timing came from guidance issued during the incident and is not a guarantee of restoration. The exchange suspended withdrawals to complete security checks, revoke authorizations tied to affected addresses and block further unauthorized operations. No public accounting of all affected assets has been released.