Key Notes
- An unverified asset breakdown alleges more than $5 billion stolen and has not been independently substantiated.
- Tether and Circle CEOs reported more than $2 billion in stablecoins frozen.
- Binance says user funds are completely safe while it investigates.
An unverified asset breakdown provided to CoinScreamer puts alleged losses in the Binance incident at more than $5.6 billion. The exchange says user funds are completely safe, while Tether and Circle have reported freezing more than $2.3 billion in stablecoins linked to the incident.
Preliminary Breakdown Alleges Over $5.6B Stolen
The following dollar figures reproduce that estimate. They are not a Binance-confirmed loss tally or an independently verified calculation by CoinScreamer:
- $1.45 billion in BTC
- $875 million in ETH
- $234 million in TRX
- $50 million in XAUT
- $1.57 billion in USDT
- $823 million in USDC
- $75 million in WBETH
- $88.5 million in RLUSD
- $447.5 million in other cryptocurrencies
The listed amounts add up to $5.613 billion. A complete transaction list, valuation time and methodology were not supplied, so CoinScreamer has not substantiated this total or each token-level figure. The Ethereum transaction supplied with the claim records only part of the movements and does not establish this full breakdown.
A Potential Record, Pending Confirmation
If substantiated as losses from a single incident, the estimate would make this the largest crypto hack on record. For comparison, Chainalysis identified the nearly $1.5 billion Bybit theft in February 2025 as the largest digital heist in crypto history in its 2026 Crypto Crime Report. The Binance record-size claim remains conditional on verification of the alleged losses.
Binance co-founder Changpeng Zhao said the exchange appeared to have been hacked. His assessment, the issuers’ freeze statements and Binance’s assurance about user funds are separate from verification of the full $5.613 billion estimate.
Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino said at 21:25 UTC on October 29 that the issuer had frozen more than 1.567 billion USDT related to a potential Binance exchange hack. He said protecting the industry and its partners remained Tether’s priority.
Circle CEO Jeremy Allaire said at 21:18 UTC that Circle had frozen more than 800 million USDC associated with the incident in coordination with law enforcement. He described reports of a potential exploit involving Binance and said Circle would continue supporting the investigation.
Issuer Statements Put Freezes Above Earlier Estimates
At the stablecoins’ nominal $1 value, the two stated thresholds together exceed $2.367 billion. This is CoinScreamer’s calculation from the issuers’ figures, rather than a final loss estimate or an independent address-by-address reconciliation.
The Tether figure is larger than the approximately $971 million cited in our initial brief. Our subsequent Tether update covers Ardoino’s direct statement. His figure should not be added to the earlier estimate as a separate freeze.
Changpeng Zhao had earlier cited approximately $823 million frozen by Circle, as covered in our Circle brief. Allaire’s own statement provides a direct issuer account of more than 800 million USDC; it does not describe an additional freeze on top of Zhao’s figure.
Freezing tokens blocks their movement. It does not, by itself, mean those assets have been returned to Binance or used to reimburse customers. Neither CEO’s post sets out the exchange’s total losses or a final technical explanation.
Binance Says User Funds Are Safe as It Investigates
In its newer statement, Binance said user funds were completely safe and that its teams were urgently investigating reports of a potential security issue. It said verified updates would come through official channels and warned against unofficial links, messages and requests for account information.
That assurance is stronger than the exchange’s initial statement that it had not confirmed an impact on user funds. It remains Binance’s account of customer-fund safety, rather than an independently completed assessment of the incident’s scope.
Zhao said earlier that Binance appeared to have been hacked and that user funds were safe. He stressed that he no longer manages the exchange and, speaking as a shareholder, expected all user funds to be covered. His expectation does not establish that reimbursements have been completed.
Long Liquidations Exceeded $600M in the Earlier Hourly Snapshot
CoinGlass data checked at 21:00 UTC showed $630.27 million in total liquidations over the preceding hour, including $608.45 million in long positions and $21.83 million in shorts. The figures cover the leveraged markets tracked by CoinGlass and change as the rolling window advances.
The same dashboard showed $953.89 million liquidated over 24 hours, including $804.11 million in longs. The hourly closures are included in the daily total; these overlapping windows measure the pace of forced exits over different periods.
A liquidation occurs when a venue forcibly closes a leveraged position because its margin no longer supports it. Closing bullish positions during a decline can add selling pressure, although the totals alone cannot identify the event that started the move.
Earlier Price Data Show a Partial Rebound
| Asset | 20:47 UTC Minute Low | 20:56 UTC Spot Quote |
|---|---|---|
| Bitcoin | $78,177.37 | $78,967 |
| Ether | $2,230 | $2,259 |
| Solana | $94.79 | $96.60 |
| XRP | $1.2223 | $1.2433 |
The table distinguishes the sell-off’s low from later trading. Bitcoin and Ether remained below $80,000 and $2,300, respectively, at the observation time, even after recovering from the deepest part of the move.
Large Binance Transfers Are Visible, but Authorization Is Unresolved
The Ethereum transaction cited by Spreek was recorded at 20:24:23 UTC. Etherscan shows approximately 167,464 ETH leaving an address labelled Binance 14, alongside 63 ERC-20 token transfers, including about 1.615 billion USDT.
The movements were first highlighted in Spreek’s 20:32 UTC alert, which described the possible hack as unconfirmed. He initially acknowledged routine wallet maintenance as one possible explanation. The transaction record establishes asset movements, but does not by itself determine whether they were authorized.
CoinScreamer has not independently established the alleged Tornado Cash funding link, a total loss or the full multichain scope. The issuer statements confirm that their CEOs reported freezes linked to the incident, while the technical cause and final loss assessment remain unresolved.
The Sell-Off Follows a Volatile Policy Week
The decline follows the Federal Reserve’s October 28 rate hold, when two policymakers favored another increase. Our latest ETF report also showed divergent October 28 flows: Bitcoin funds attracted $137.3 million while Ether funds lost $21.4 million.
Those developments provide earlier market context. Neither they nor the timing of Spreek’s alert establish a single cause for the latest decline.
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