Largest crypto exchange freezes US$3 billion after suspected hack

The world's biggest cryptocurrency exchange is investigating an apparent multibillion-dollar hack, with US$3 billion ($5.3 billion) of crypto assets already frozen and estimates suggesting the amount stolen could be substantially larger.

Binance, the world's largest cryptocurrency exchange, initially said US$2.54 billion in crypto assets had been frozen as it investigated a potential security breach, with stablecoin issuers Circle and Tether among those freezing related assets.

That figure has now risen to US$3 billion, while crypto-tracking firm Chainalysis estimates US$5.912 billion was stolen at the time of the suspected hack. Binance has not yet confirmed the total amount stolen.

Binance co-founder Yi He said the exchange would "cover all hacking losses".

Much of the cryptocurrency successfully frozen is in US-dollar stablecoins, including Tether's USDT and Circle's USDC, which are designed to maintain a one-to-one value with the US dollar.

Tether has frozen nearly US$1.57 billion of assets linked to the incident, while Circle has frozen more than US$800 million.

Binance said the amount frozen could increase as it worked with law enforcement agencies, token issuers, blockchain intelligence firms and other industry partners to trace and freeze additional assets.

Binance co-founder Changpeng Zhao, who no longer runs the company, said in a post on X that the incident "looked like a hack".

World Liberty Financial, a crypto company linked to US President Donald Trump and his family, was also among the organisations involved in efforts to freeze assets.

Binance said it was conducting security checks and would resume withdrawals once the issue was fully resolved, adding that user funds remained safe.

The exchange also temporarily suspended trading on its Binance Alpha platform as a precaution.

If the Chainalysis estimate is confirmed, the attack would be the largest cryptocurrency theft on record, at nearly four times the roughly US$1.5 billion stolen from Bybit in 2025.

Cybercriminals stole US$2.9 billion worth of cryptocurrency across nearly 150 attacks in 2025, according to crypto intelligence firm TRM Labs.

Binance, which allows users to buy, sell and trade digital assets, has more than 300 million registered users globally and US$160 billion in assets under custody.

Rival exchange Coinbase said it was unaffected and was monitoring the situation.

Unlike cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin, centralised stablecoins such as USDT and USDC can be frozen by their issuers.

Tether and Circle can blacklist particular blockchain addresses, preventing the stablecoins held in those addresses from being transferred.

The security breach has also hit cryptocurrency markets.

Bitcoin has fallen by 6.0 percent in the last 24 hours to a six-week low of around US$76,500 in early Asian trading on Friday, while Ether fell 9.0 percent in the last 24 hours to around US$2200.

Binance's BNB token was down more than 8 percent over 24 hours.

- Reuters, with additional reporting from RNZ