'It looks like a hack': Binance reacts to what could be the largest theft in crypto history and confirms that $2.54 billion has already been frozen

Binance, the world's largest cryptocurrency exchange, is facing what could be the largest theft in the industry's history. The company is investigating a possible cyberattack that shook the market on Thursday and confirmed that $2.54 billion linked to the incident has been frozen, largely thanks to the swift response of the major issuers of stablecoins.

Changpeng Zhao, co-founder and largest shareholder of Binance, reacted to the news by warning the world: "It looks like a hack on Binance", he said on X. Zhao, known as CZ, no longer runs the company, but he assured users that their funds are safe and that, as a shareholder, he expects all customer losses to be covered.

The company, on the other hand, was a bit more cautious in its official statement.

First, he acknowledged that the company is aware of "reports of a possible security issue" and explained that its teams are urgently reviewing the information. Then, they assured users that "users' funds are completely safe" and urged their customers to be wary of unofficial links and messages that might take advantage of the confusion to carry out scams.

Stablecoin issuers, who can lock their tokens directly on the blockchain, responded fastest. Tether, which issues the largest stablecoin on the market, reported that it had frozen more than $1.567 million in USDT linked to the potential attack, according to its CEO, Paolo Ardoino. Circle, the issuer of USDC, froze more than $800 million "in coordination with law enforcement," according to its CEO, Jeremy Allaire. According to Reuters, Ripple also froze about $200 million, according to Yi He, Binance co-founder.

The figures kept changing throughout the afternoon, and Binance stepped in to clarify them amid the confusion and panic. The company verified that the total amount of frozen funds amounts to $2.54 billion and warned that the number could continue to rise as the investigation progresses in collaboration with authorities, issuers, and blockchain analysis firms.

What is still unclear is how much money was withdrawn in total. Various specialized outlets, including The Kobeissi Letter, estimate that Binance's wallets on the Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Tron networks recorded outflows totaling about $5.7 billion, including about $1.45 billion in bitcoin and $875 million in ether. Binance has not officially confirmed that figure. If verified, it would far exceed Bybit's $1.5 billion theft in 2025, which until now has been considered the largest in the industry's history.

The market reacted immediately to the news. According to Bloomberg, Bitcoin fell as much as 3.7% and dipped below $79,000, its lowest level since September, while other cryptocurrencies saw heavy selling. James Seyffart, an analyst at Bloomberg Intelligence, noted that wallet liquidations are nothing new in the crypto world, but that an attack of this magnitude against the market's largest platform would be significant. He also noted that this episode adds to a series of recent incidents, such as Bitget's multimillion-dollar losses and the tampering with Ledger devices.

Moreover, this is a particularly sensitive time. Crypto options worth about $11 billion are set to expire on Friday, and the midterms are next week, which could pave the way for greater regulatory scrutiny of the sector if the Democrats regain control of either chamber of Congress.

Binance has more than 335 million registered users worldwide. Its U.S. subsidiary, Binance.US, which operates independently, stated that it was not affected. The incident also reached Elon Musk, who reacted on X with a brief "Everyday is Zeroday," a reference to "zero-day" vulnerabilities, which attackers exploit before a fix is available.

This is a developing story