Binance probes suspected hot-wallet drain of up to ~$5.5B; Tether and Circle freeze ~$1.8B

Huge outflows left Binance hot wallets this afternoon. Binance says it is investigating and has NOT confirmed any impact on user funds. If it is confirmed as a hack, it would be the largest crypto hack on record. Treat every number below as early and moving.

What happened (Thu Oct 29, UTC):

  • ~20:21: an address funded through Tornado Cash installs an EIP-7702 delegation on a Binance-labeled hot wallet (EIP-7702 lets a normal wallet run delegated smart-contract code).

  • 20:24: about 3 minutes later, that wallet sends 167,464 ETH plus 63 token transfers, including about 1.615B USDT, to a brand-new address (Etherscan, via Decrypt).

  • 20:24-21:04: analysts flag large outflows of ETH, USDT and USDC from Binance hot wallets. Receiving addresses were new and pushed funds onward within minutes.

  • 21:04: Tether freezes about 975M USDT and Circle about 823M USDC in the main receiving address, roughly $1.8B in total. Tether later put its frozen total above 1.5B USDT.

The numbers (estimates differ):

  • Decrypt tally: about $5.57B across 3 chains, $3.51B on Ethereum, $1.44B in 18,270 BTC and $630M on Tron.

  • The Block reports outflows of up to $5.8B. Crypto Briefing cites $2.5B to $3.5B.

  • How the attacker got the required signature is still unknown.

What Binance and CZ said:

  • Binance on X: "we have not confirmed any impact to user funds" and updates will come through official channels.

  • CZ said on X the outflows looked like a hack, that user funds were safe and losses would be covered in full (via Crypto Briefing). A promise, not yet a post-mortem.

Why traders care:

  • Liquidations were about $628M in an hour, mostly longs (Crypto Briefing, BeInCrypto).

  • Stablecoin freezes worked fast. ETH and BTC have no such switch.

  • The previous record was Bybit, about $1.5B in Feb 2025.

The tape (Binance spot, 22:42 UTC):

  • $BNB 704.36 (-7.0% 24h), range 680 to 761

  • $BTC 79,136 (-2.7%), $ETH 2,279.4 (-3.5%) Snapshot only, not proof of cause.

My take: wait for Binance's own verified update before acting on screenshots. Watch three things: the root cause, whether frozen USDT/USDC is returned, and any confirmed user balance impact.

Are you moving funds right now, or waiting for the official report?

Source: https://tradeassi.com/en/news/d7538f96-e465-43ee-82f4-f274b25933d1

Not financial advice. DYOR.