Binance founder admits hack as $5.5 billion drains from the exchange

An hour ago we reported that more than $2 billion left Binance wallets in minutes. The scale has changed. On-chain analysts now count at least $5.57 billion flowing out of exchange-linked addresses across three networks: about $3.51 billion on Ethereum, $1.44 billion in bitcoin (18,270 BTC) and $630 million on Tron.

Binance founder Changpeng Zhao was blunt: "User funds are safe! It appears Binance has indeed been hacked." He thanked Tether and Circle for freezing funds quickly and said he no longer runs Binance, but as a shareholder he expects users to be made whole.

The exchange itself is more careful. Binance says it is aware of reports of a potential security issue, is investigating urgently and has not confirmed any impact on user funds at this stage. It also warned users not to trust unofficial links or messages, since scammers love moments like this.

Stablecoin issuers moved fast. Tether froze 975 million USDT in the main receiving address, and Circle froze 823 million USDC in the same wallet, saying it is working with law enforcement. That is roughly $1.8 billion stuck. The rest, in ether and bitcoin, cannot be frozen that way, and it is already being split across fresh addresses.

The market did what you would expect: bitcoin dropped below $79,000, BNB fell about 7%, and hundreds of millions of dollars in trader positions were liquidated. How the attacker got the signature needed to move money out of the hot wallets is still unknown.

If the hack is confirmed, it is the biggest crypto theft on record. The previous record, the Bybit hack in 2025, was about $1.5 billion. The real question now is whether Binance's reserves can cover a hole this size.