Binance suspended withdrawals after billions of dollars in digital assets were moved out of wallets controlled by the exchange on Thursday afternoon in New York, according to Protos. Founder Changpeng Zhao, or CZ, later described the incident as a hack. Researchers said suspicious withdrawals began no later than 4:30pm, with smaller transactions linked to the alleged attacker or attackers appearing earlier in the day. As the outflows continued, Binance started halting withdrawals around 6pm and issued an official pause notice at 6:22pm. By 8pm, Arkham Intelligence estimated that the value of illegitimate withdrawals had already topped $5.8 billion. Binance’s own figure, disclosed at 7:22pm, was $2.54 billion, while third-party researchers put the total at more than twice that amount. Binance’s social media account and CEO He Yi said customers would be reimbursed for any losses. Stablecoin issuers Tether, Circle, World Liberty Financial, and Paxos also froze stablecoins to help the exchange respond. Binance said at 7:06pm that Binance Alpha trading had been suspended, and He Yi said a post-mortem would be released after the investigation is completed.
Binance suspended withdrawals after billions of dollars in digital assets left wallets controlled by the exchange on Thursday afternoon New York time, according to Protos. If recovery efforts fail, the missing assets could place the incident among the largest heists in world history by dollar value.
Founder Changpeng Zhao, known as CZ, later characterized the withdrawals as a hack. Protos reported that the unauthorized transfers began no later than 4:30pm, while researchers also identified smaller earlier transactions during the day that were linked to the alleged attacker or attackers.
As the illegitimate withdrawals continued, Binance began halting withdrawals sometime around 6pm. The exchange then issued an official announcement at 6:22pm confirming the pause.
By 8pm, Arkham Intelligence estimated that the value of the unauthorized outflows had already exceeded $5.8 billion. Estimates of the total loss varied sharply. Binance said at 7:22pm that the figure stood at $2.54 billion, while third-party researchers put the amount at more than double that level.
Binance’s social media account and CEO He Yi said the exchange would reimburse customers for any losses. He Yi also said a post-mortem would be published after staff complete the investigation.
Stablecoin issuers moved quickly
Tether, Circle, World Liberty Financial, and Paxos froze stablecoins to assist Binance as the situation unfolded.
At 7:06pm, Binance said trading on Binance Alpha had been suspended.
Protos described the event as a fast-moving situation with updates arriving minute by minute. Its live blog covering the October 29 Binance hack has since ended.
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