Binance Suspends Operations to Contain Suspected Breach
In a series of online alerts issued on Thursday, the world's largest cryptocurrency exchange by daily trading volume, Binance, announced that it had frozen digital assets valued at more than $2.5 billion (approximately £1.87 billion). The move was taken to block what the company characterized as a potential theft while its internal teams carry out a thorough security review.
As part of the same set of notices, Binance confirmed that all deposit and withdrawal functions have been temporarily halted. The exchange stressed that it would "cover all losses" and assured users that their funds remain secure. A company statement urged the public to rely exclusively on official Binance channels for updates and noted that a comprehensive post-mortem would be published once the investigation concluded.
Industry Players Move to Freeze Stolen Funds
Changpeng Zhao, Binance's former chief executive who retains a majority stake in the company, publicly assessed the situation, stating that the events "do look like a hack on Binance." Zhao further revealed that two other major crypto platforms, Tether and Circle, had collectively frozen roughly $1.7 billion in assets believed to be linked to the breach.
Jeremy Allaire, chief executive of Circle, confirmed that his firm is "closely tracking reports of a potential exploit involving Binance." Allaire indicated that Circle had already locked up more than $800 million in assets connected to the incident. Circle holds a prominent position in the digital-asset landscape as the issuer and co-creator of USDC, one of the largest US dollar-backed stablecoins globally.
Tether, for its part, did not immediately respond to media inquiries regarding its role in the freeze.
Binance added that the total value of frozen assets could still rise as its teams collaborate with law enforcement agencies and other partners to trace and seize additional funds.
Market Reaction
The news triggered an immediate sell-off across the broader crypto market. Bitcoin shed approximately 5 percent of its value in the hours following the alerts, while other major tokens, including Ethereum and Solana, also experienced sharp declines in price.