Binance Freezes $3 Billion in Assets After Possible Hack

Binance, the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange, has frozen $3 billion in assets as it investigates a potential security breach. The incident has already had a significant impact on the market, with Bitcoin dropping two percent to a six-week low. Binance has more than 335 million registered users globally and had about $160 billion in assets under custody as of its 2024 annual report. The exchange has a secure asset fund for users, which is a reserve held entirely in Bitcoin that is intended to protect user assets in cases of security breaches.

The incident has been described as the largest-ever crypto heist by analytics firm Chainalysis, and Binance has said it will cover all hacking losses. Stablecoin issuers Circle and Tether have also frozen related assets, with Tether freezing nearly $1.57 billion and Circle freezing over $800 million. Binance is working with law enforcement agencies, token issuers, and blockchain intelligence firms to trace and freeze additional assets.

Bernardo Brites, CEO of Trace Finance, said that AI can find vulnerabilities faster than they can be fixed, making it increasingly difficult to counter hacks. The incident adds to a string of crypto thefts, with attackers stealing $2.9 billion worth of cryptocurrency across nearly 150 attacks last year, according to researchers at TRM Labs.