On Oct 29 2026 at about 20:24 UTC, more than $2B in ETH and tokens left Binance hot wallets (labeled Binance 14 and Binance 16 on Etherscan) for an address created that day, according to Etherscan data reported by BeInCrypto. The transfer was triggered by a wallet funded only through Tornado Cash, and the receiving address quickly forwarded about 195,460 ETH (around $450M) to another fresh address. Binance says it is aware of reports of a potential security issue, is actively investigating and that user funds are completely safe; it has not confirmed a breach or a loss total. Founder CZ, who no longer runs Binance, said it does look like a hack and that he expects all user funds to be fully covered. Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino said Tether froze more than 1.567B USDT tied to a potential Binance exchange hack, and Circle CEO Jeremy Allaire said Circle froze more than 800M USDC in coordination with law enforcement; Binance co-founder Yi He later thanked Ripple for freezing about 200 million more. Blockaid says the attacker used an EIP-7702 authorization to turn the Binance 14 hot wallet into a sweeper contract only the attacker can drain. Binance later paused withdrawals, saying they will resume once the security issue is fully resolved, and CZ said the loss might be a bit higher than the roughly $1B left after freezes but will be covered. World Liberty Financial froze $27M in USD1 linked to the hack. Binance.US says it is a separate platform and is not affected. If confirmed, it would be the largest exchange hack on record. Binance then said the current verified total frozen is $2.54 billion and suspended Binance Alpha trading, and co-founder Yi He said Binance will cover all hacking losses, that deposits and withdrawals are temporarily suspended during security checks, and that a full post-mortem will follow; Binance's official account repeated that Binance will cover all losses and that all deposits and withdrawals are suspended. The Arbitrum Security Council moved 74,559,805 ARB and 8,425 ETH held by an exploit-linked Arbitrum One address into a frozen wallet. Binance later updated its verified total frozen to around $3 billion. Chainalysis estimates about $5.912B was stolen at the time of theft, nearly four times the 2025 Bybit heist, which would make it the largest crypto theft on record. Binance then gave its first official figures: its initial investigation suggests a compromised DevOps engineer's laptop let the attacker reach a service container and submit unauthorized withdrawal transactions, it has found no evidence of a wallet private key leak, the estimated total impact is around $6.3B with about $3B frozen on-chain, and it will cover all losses from the SAFU fund and company funds. It says it revoked the affected address authorisation and will publish a technical post-mortem and an updated Proof of Reserves. Binance users have nothing to patch: watch for official updates only through Binance's own channels and ignore unofficial links or requests for account details, which Binance warns are circulating.
Binance (exchange hot wallets)·Since Oct 29, 2026·
Binance's initial investigation suggests that the security incident may involve a compromised DevOps engineer’s laptop, which allowed an attacker to gain access to a service container and submit unauthorized withdrawal transactions. We have found no evidence of any wallet private key leak. We will share a detailed technical post-mortem once the investigation is complete and the facts are fully verified.
The estimated total impact sits at around $6.3B. We have worked with blockchain partners to freeze affected assets, with ~$3 billion frozen on-chain so far.
Binance will cover all losses from the SAFU fund and the company’s funds. User funds are safe. We will also publish an updated Proof of Reserves once the remediation is complete.
As an immediate precaution, Binance has:
- temporarily suspended deposits and withdrawals while security checks are completed;
- revoked the affected address authorisation;
- engaged law enforcement and blockchain intelligence partners to trace and recover funds.
Our teams are working around the clock to resolve this issue safely and thoroughly. We are working closely with our law enforcement partners to confirm the identity of these criminals and bring them to justice.
Please rely only on official Binance channels for updates. Please feel free to contact Binance Customer Support if you have any further questions.
www.binance.com/en/support/announcement/…
Update: The current verified total frozen amount is around $3 billion.
Our teams continue to work closely with law enforcement, issuers, blockchain intelligence firms and industry partners to trace and freeze additional assets.
We will only share confirmed figures and will
The Arbitrum Security Council has taken emergency action to rescue the 74,559,805 ARB and 8,425 ETH being held in the address on Arbitrum One that is identified as connected to the Binance exploit. The Security Council acted by weighing its commitment to the security and integrity of the Arbitrum community and Arbitrum governance without impacting any Arbitrum users or applications.
After significant technical diligence and deliberation, the Security Council identified and executed a technical approach to move funds to safety without affecting any other chain state or other Arbitrum users.
As of October 30, 2026 time, the funds have been successfully transferred to an intermediary frozen wallet. They are no longer accessible to the address that originally held the funds, and can only be moved by further action of the Security Council or a vote of Arbitrum DAO governance, which will be coordinated with relevant parties.
We are working non-stop to resolve this issue. Binance will cover all losses.
As a precaution, all deposits and withdrawals are temporarily suspended while our team conducts security checks, freezes funds, and works with law enforcement.
We are working around the clock and will share a full post-mortem once the investigation is complete. Please rely only on official Binance channels for updates.
This is an industry-wide effort, and we are grateful to partners across the ecosystem who have moved quickly to help freeze affected assets.
We will continue to share verified updates through official Binance channels. User funds are safe.
User funds are safe.
Binance will cover all hacking losses.
Deposits and withdrawals are temporarily suspended while our team conducts security checks, freezes funds, and works with law enforcement.
We will share a full post-mortem once the investigation is complete. Please rely only on official Binance channels for updates.
