First, let’s separate the facts from the speculation.
Binance’s official statement is that it is “investigating a potential security issue, and user funds are completely safe.” It also suspended withdrawals on several networks as a precaution. CZ was more direct: “It does look like Binance was hacked,” but he also said that, as a shareholder, he expects users’ funds to be fully covered. Binance.US stated that it operates independently and was not affected.
Now, about those figures circulating online. On-chain tracking found that around $2.53 billion was transferred out of the “Binance 14” hot wallet, involving 64 tokens. Arkham flagged 55 addresses with combined holdings of around $5.78 billion. Note that the latter is the total value of assets in those addresses, not a confirmed amount stolen. There has been no official confirmation of any loss figure.
What’s truly worth noting is how quickly funds were frozen. Tether froze more than $1.567 billion in USDT, Circle froze more than $800 million in USDC, and Ripple helped intercept around $200 million. Using $2.53 billion as the amount affected, the two stablecoin issuers froze a combined $2.39 billion, potentially bringing the actual net loss down to around $140 million.
That difference shows how stablecoin issuers’ ability to freeze addresses became the main force limiting losses in this incident—for the first time.
Musk’s “everyday is zeroday” line sounds casual, but for ordinary users, the thing to do now is not to trust any unofficial offers to “help you withdraw your funds.”
Binance’s official statement is that it is “investigating a potential security issue, and user funds are completely safe.” It also suspended withdrawals on several networks as a precaution. CZ was more direct: “It does look like Binance was hacked,” but he also said that, as a shareholder, he expects users’ funds to be fully covered. Binance.US stated that it operates independently and was not affected.
Now, about those figures circulating online. On-chain tracking found that around $2.53 billion was transferred out of the “Binance 14” hot wallet, involving 64 tokens. Arkham flagged 55 addresses with combined holdings of around $5.78 billion. Note that the latter is the total value of assets in those addresses, not a confirmed amount stolen. There has been no official confirmation of any loss figure.
What’s truly worth noting is how quickly funds were frozen. Tether froze more than $1.567 billion in USDT, Circle froze more than $800 million in USDC, and Ripple helped intercept around $200 million. Using $2.53 billion as the amount affected, the two stablecoin issuers froze a combined $2.39 billion, potentially bringing the actual net loss down to around $140 million.
That difference shows how stablecoin issuers’ ability to freeze addresses became the main force limiting losses in this incident—for the first time.
Musk’s “everyday is zeroday” line sounds casual, but for ordinary users, the thing to do now is not to trust any unofficial offers to “help you withdraw your funds.”
