Binance 6.3B-dollar hack: 18,270 BTC split into 19 wallets, withdrawals paused — what is confirmed
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Answer first: Binance, the world's largest crypto exchange, reported a suspected security breach affecting roughly $6.3 billion in crypto assets — potentially the largest crypto hack ever. More than 18,270 BTC was moved out and split into 19 wallets; deposits and withdrawals are paused, and stablecoin issuers have frozen over $2.4 billion linked to the incident. Bitcoin slid below $80,000.
Key points
- Scale: ~$6.3B affected — surpassing the record $1.5B Bybit hack of 2025
- On-chain: 18,270+ BTC left Binance's hot wallet in 11 transactions (block 973,732), then split into 19 wallets — 17 holding exactly 1,000 BTC each, one 832.5 BTC, one 437.7 BTC
- Frozen: Tether froze $1.567B in USDT; Circle froze $800M+ in USDC; First Digital froze stolen FDUSD; Binance says $27M in stablecoins and ~$2M in World Liberty tokens were also frozen
- Market: bitcoin and ether slid; Standard Chartered warned prices may stay under pressure until more details emerge
Why it is trending
Selection basis: Binance hack coverage dominated October 30 crypto news across international outlets, and Binance is the world's largest exchange by daily volume — the incident touches users and prices globally. A separate Polymarket exploit ($2.6M+) the same day added to security concerns.
What happened
- Thursday (UTC): Binance disclosed a suspected breach and paused deposits and withdrawals, saying it may have involved a compromised engineer's laptop (Binance post on X)
- The attacker split the stolen bitcoin into 19 wallets within minutes; as of early Friday UTC the funds had not moved again
- Binance says it will cover user losses; Binance Japan also suspended crypto deposits and withdrawals, reporting no impact to Japanese users' assets so far
Confirmed / not confirmed
Confirmed: The breach disclosure, the on-chain movement of 18,270+ BTC into 19 wallets, the stablecoin freezes announced by Tether, Circle and First Digital, and the deposit/withdrawal pause.
Not confirmed: Who did it. Some reports point to North Korea-linked hackers, but there is no official attribution from law enforcement. The final loss figure and reimbursement mechanics are also not final.
What to watch
Binance's reimbursement plan and any law-enforcement attribution, whether the 19 wallets start moving funds, and how long withdrawals stay paused.
Sources
- CoinDesk "$6B Binance hack tanks BTC, ETH. Standard Chartered sees more pain" Oct. 30, 2026
- RTE "Hackers steal $6.3bn from Binance in biggest crypto hack ever" Oct. 30, 2026
- BBC News live coverage, Oct. 30, 2026
- Binance official announcement "Security Incident Update" Oct. 29, 2026: ~$6.3B estimated impact, ~$3B frozen on-chain, losses covered by SAFU fund and company funds