Binance, the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange, announced on Thursday that it is currently investigating reports of a potential security issue. While the company has not explicitly confirmed that any funds were pilfered, the incident has triggered a significant industry-wide response, with various cryptocurrency firms freezing more than $2.5 billion in assets by Thursday evening.
In a statement, a Binance spokesperson assured users that their funds remain "completely safe." The company noted that its security teams are reviewing all relevant information with urgency and pledged to provide updates through official Binance channels as soon as the information is verified. Approximately two hours after its initial disclosure, the exchange updated its X account to confirm that the verified total of frozen funds had reached $2.54 billion. The company indicated that this figure may continue to rise as it works alongside law enforcement, blockchain intelligence firms, industry partners, and issuers to trace and secure additional assets.
Stablecoin providers Tether and Circle both confirmed that they had frozen funds on Thursday in direct response to the incident. The uncertainty surrounding the potential security breach also impacted market performance, with the price of bitcoin dropping 3.2% on Thursday afternoon to fall below $79,000.
Changpeng Zhao, the founder of Binance, also addressed the situation on X. While he noted that he no longer manages the exchange, he stated that the incident "does look like a hack on Binance." Zhao reiterated that "User funds are safe!" and added, "as a shareholder, I expect all user funds will be fully covered."
