Update — 3 November 2026: Both milestones the 31 October update was waiting for have now happened. Binance resumed withdrawals in phases on 1 November 2026: Phase 1 covered 15 networks and assets, all live by 12:36 UTC, with $4.649 billion withdrawn and $1.01 billion deposited in the first nine and a half hours (a net outflow of about $3.64 billion). On 2 November 2026, Binance completed the full zero-knowledge Proof of Reserves proof for its 31 October snapshot: BTC, ETH, USDT, BNB, SOL, USDC, XRP, USD1, RLUSD and ZEC can now be verified as backed at least 1:1. Binance says about 95% of the affected assets are now replenished; the remaining roughly 5% is mostly less-liquid tokens still being bought. A second withdrawal phase began progressively from 04:00 UTC on 3 November, and a wider Proof of Reserves snapshot is planned for 4 November. Note: a Proof of Reserves snapshot shows backing at one moment for the tokens covered — it is not a full solvency audit. All figures above are indicative, from Binance's own updates.
Update — 31 October 2026: Binance co-CEO Richard Teng has since said, in his own words, that customer money is safe and Binance is covering every loss. A later Binance letter from co-CEOs Yi He and Richard Teng said about 80% of the loss was already covered, with more than $6.34 billion set aside. This update also adds a separate case below — Bitget in September 2026 — so this article does not single out one exchange: large exchanges have all been targeted.
Binance, the world's largest cryptocurrency exchange, disclosed a security breach affecting about $6.3 billion in crypto assets on 30 October 2026. About $3 billion in affected assets has been frozen so far, and Binance says it will cover all customer losses.
What happened, in simple terms: Binance said its initial investigation suggests the breach may have involved a compromised laptop belonging to a DevOps engineer, which allowed an attacker to access a service container and submit unauthorised withdrawal transactions. The exchange said it had found no evidence that wallet private keys had been leaked.
Binance first said deposits and withdrawals were temporarily suspended while security checks were carried out. In a later update reported on 30 October, Binance co-founder Yi He said deposits are operating normally, while withdrawals remain suspended but are expected to resume within 48 hours. Updates changed during the day, so readers should check Binance's official channels for the latest status.
Bitcoin fell about 4.5% to $76,664 early on Friday, 30 October, according to The National, and fell as low as about $76,460 before recovering toward $78,500, according to CoinDesk. Ether fell 5.2% and BNB fell 7.1% in the same early move, according to The National.
According to CoinGlass data reported by CoinDesk, $1.53 billion in leveraged crypto positions were liquidated in 24 hours. About $1.29 billion of that total, or 83.8%, was long positions — bets that prices would rise. Bitcoin accounted for about $499 million in liquidations and Ether about $358 million. Binance alone accounted for $754.6 million, about 49.2% of the total. The largest single liquidation tracked was an $11 million Bitcoin long on Binance.
Stablecoin issuers also froze funds linked to the incident. Tether said it froze more than $1.567 billion in USDT, and Circle said it froze more than $800 million in USDC.
After the first disclosure, Binance co-CEO Richard Teng said publicly that customer money is safe and Binance is covering every loss. In a joint letter dated 30 October, co-CEOs Yi He and Richard Teng said about 80% of the roughly $6.3 billion loss was already covered, with more than $6.34 billion set aside, including about $5 billion already held in the exact stolen tokens (USDC, USDT, BTC, ETH and BNB), with the rest being bought through market and over-the-counter channels. Binance said it is absorbing the full cost itself and that customer funds were not affected. Withdrawals were to restart in phases, an initial Proof of Reserves snapshot was expected within 12 hours with results by Monday, 2 November, and a full post-mortem report was to follow. These details arrived after this article was first published on 30 October, which is why they are added here as a dated update.
Bitget, another large exchange, was also targeted in 2026. On 24 September 2026, Bitget said its security systems detected unauthorised transfers from some of its hot wallets at 18:31 UTC. The estimate was first about $351.6 million and was later revised to about $387.5 million after more transfers were identified. Bitget said private keys were not compromised and cold wallets were not affected, that customer account balances remained intact, and that its Protection Fund would cover the financial impact. Withdrawals were paused as a precaution and then reopened in phases, with full withdrawals reported resumed by 2 October 2026. The point is simple and fair: this risk is not about one exchange only. Binance, Bitget and other large exchanges have all been targeted, so users on any exchange need the same basic protections — strong passwords, two-factor authentication, withdrawal whitelists where available, and never clicking a link from an unverified message.
The hack itself and the market fall are two different things. The $6.3 billion figure is the estimated impact of the breach, not the amount traders lost in the market. The $1.53 billion figure is the value of leveraged trading positions that were automatically closed when prices moved sharply. Binance has said user funds are safe and that losses will be covered from its SAFU fund and company funds, and that it will publish an updated Proof of Reserves and a detailed technical report once the investigation is complete.
How much was affected in the Binance hack? Binance said the estimated total impact was around $6.3 billion, with about $3 billion in affected assets frozen so far. The figures are estimates, not a final audited loss.
Are Binance withdrawals working again? Withdrawals were paused during security checks. In a later update on 30 October, Binance co-founder Yi He said deposits are operating normally and withdrawals are expected to resume within 48 hours. Update — 3 November 2026: that expectation is now outdated and superseded — withdrawals resumed in phases from 1 November 2026 (see the update box at the top of this article). Check Binance official channels for the latest status.
How much was liquidated after the hack? According to CoinGlass data reported by CoinDesk, $1.53 billion in leveraged crypto positions were liquidated in 24 hours, including about $1.29 billion in long positions.
Was Bitget also hacked? Yes, in September 2026. Bitget reported unauthorised transfers from hot wallets on 24 September 2026, later estimated at about $387.5 million, and said customer balances were unaffected and its Protection Fund would cover the impact, with withdrawals fully resumed by 2 October 2026.
These references provide background for the figures discussed in this article.
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