Binance Freezes $3 Billion After Laptop Breach

Binance told customers Thursday that deposits and withdrawals were temporarily suspended while it works through what it called a potential security issue, and put the estimated total impact at around $6.3 billion. The company said its teams are working around the clock, and a spokesperson said user funds are completely safe.

The exchange said roughly $3 billion had been frozen on-chain through work with blockchain partners. Stablecoin issuers also acted: Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino said his company froze more than $1.5 billion in currency tied to a potential Binance exchange hack, while Circle CEO Jeremy Allaire said his company froze more than $800 million in coordination with law enforcement. Bitcoin fell 3.2 percent Thursday evening to under $79,000.

Binance said its initial investigation points to a compromised DevOps engineer's laptop that let an attacker reach a service container and submit unauthorized withdrawal transactions. The company also said it found no evidence of a wallet private key leak, and it plans to release technical details once its investigation is complete and facts are fully verified. Its security teams are reviewing information with urgency.

Changpeng Zhao, who founded Binance in 2017 and stepped down as CEO in 2023 after pleading guilty to a felony related to failing to prevent money laundering on the platform, wrote on X that user funds are safe but that the incident does look like a hack on Binance. He added that although he does not manage Binance anymore, as a shareholder he expects all user funds will be fully covered. President Donald Trump pardoned him in 2025.

Zhao was released from prison last year after being sentenced for violating the Bank Secrecy Act, which requires U.S. financial institutions to know their customers, monitor transactions and file reports on suspicious activity. He was the first person sentenced to prison time for violations of that law. Prosecutors said no one had ever violated the regulations to the extent Zhao did. Binance and Zhao have been key supporters of some of the Trump family's crypto enterprises. Binance said it works closely with law enforcement, issuers, blockchain intelligence firms and industry partners to trace and freeze additional assets, and that it will share more information through official channels once verified.