Binance security breach has an estimated $6.3 billion impact

Binance, the world's largest cryptocurrency exchange, has reported a security breach with an estimated impact of $6.3 billion. Analysts say it could be the biggest crypto theft on record, and that it may push investors to reconsider the risks of holding digital assets. The news emerged on Thursday, and markets reacted in early Asian trading on Friday.

What is known about the incident

Binance says it worked with partners to freeze the affected assets and has so far located about $3 billion. It has given no update on the remaining $3.3 billion. Co-founder Yi He said the company would cover all hacking losses.

An initial investigation suggests the breach may have begun with a hacked laptop belonging to one of Binance's engineers. That allowed an attacker to reach one of its systems and make unauthorised withdrawals. Binance maintains that user funds remain safe. As a precaution, all deposits and withdrawals are temporarily suspended while security teams run checks, secure wallet infrastructure and trace the affected assets with law enforcement and industry partners.

Binance runs a secure asset fund, a reserve held entirely in bitcoin and intended to protect user assets after security breaches. The exchange has 335 million registered users and held about $162.8 billion in assets under custody, according to its 2025 annual report.

Frozen funds and market reaction

Stablecoin issuer Tether said it froze nearly $1.57 billion in linked assets, Circle froze more than $800 million, and Ripple about $200 million. World Liberty Financial, a crypto company linked to US President Donald Trump and his family, worked with custodian BitGo to freeze funds; Yi He cited $27 million in stablecoins and about $2 million in World Liberty tokens.

Bitcoin fell more than 3% to a six-week low of $76,368, and ether dropped to a two-month low of $2,178. Shares of exchange Coinbase slid 4.8%, while those of bitcoin buyer Strategy fell nearly 6%.

Earlier attacks

According to TRM Labs, attackers stole $2.9 billion in crypto across nearly 150 attacks last year. In September, the exchange Bitget reported roughly $350 million stolen. Binance.US and Coinbase said they were not affected.