Cryptocurrency exchange Binance has reported a security breach affecting an estimated $6.3 billion (Dh23.1 billion) in digital assets, Gulf News reported. Approximately $3 billion has been frozen as investigators attempt to trace and recover the funds, and the exchange temporarily suspended deposits and withdrawals following the incident.
Binance stated that an initial investigation suggests an attacker may have compromised an engineer's laptop to gain access to an internal system and initiate unauthorised withdrawal transactions. The platform found no evidence indicating that wallet private keys had been leaked, and it has revoked the authorisation of the affected addresses.
To restrict transfers of the impacted tokens, Binance coordinated with multiple blockchain industry firms. Stablecoin issuer Tether froze nearly $1.57 billion, Circle blocked more than $800 million, and Ripple along with other entities assisted in restricting asset movements. Binance did not provide an update regarding the remaining $3.3 billion, noting that the overall financial impact remains an estimate and final losses have not yet been established.
The exchange maintained that customer assets remain safe and pledged to cover all losses using company funds and its Secure Asset Fund for Users (SAFU). It has also engaged law enforcement authorities and blockchain forensic investigators to trace the illicit transactions.
The security incident prompted a decline across digital asset markets during early Asian trading on Friday, Gulf News reported citing Reuters. Bitcoin dropped to a six-week low of $77,646, ether fell to a two-month low of $2,238.76, and Binance's native BNB token declined by more than 8 percent over a 24-hour window.
Sources
- Gulf News · 2026-10-30
