Binance, the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange, said on Thursday that $2.54 billion worth of crypto assets had been frozen as it investigated a possible security breach. Stablecoin issuers Circle and Tether also froze assets linked to the incident, news agency Reuters reported.“Binance will cover all hacking losses,” Binance co-founder Yi He said.The exchange said the amount frozen could increase as it worked with law enforcement agencies, token issuers, blockchain intelligence firms and other industry partners to trace and freeze more assets.Binance co-founder Changpeng Zhao, who no longer runs the company, said in a post on X that the incident “looked like a hack.”Tether said it had frozen nearly $1.57 billion in assets linked to the incident, while Circle froze more than $800 million.Binance said it was carrying out security checks and would resume withdrawals once the issue was fully resolved. It also assured users that their funds remained safe and said its teams were reviewing the incident. The exchange temporarily suspended trading on its Binance Alpha platform as a precaution.World Liberty Financial, a cryptocurrency company linked to US President Donald Trump and his family, said it had worked with crypto custodian BitGo to freeze funds stolen in what it described as a Binance hack.Yi He said $27 million in stablecoins and around $2 million worth of World Liberty tokens had been frozen.Crypto firm Ripple also froze around $200 million in funds, Yi said. Jack McDonald, senior vice president of stablecoins at Ripple, said the company was closely monitoring reports of a possible security breach involving Binance. He added that Ripple was freezing affected funds and coordinating with relevant parties.Miguel Morel, CEO of blockchain intelligence firm Arkham, said data suggested that billions of dollars may have been stolen from Binance by an unknown attacker. However, the exact cause of the incident had not been confirmed.Morel said the incident began around 4:30 pm EST and appeared to be ongoing.The incident adds to a series of cryptocurrency thefts. Attackers stole $2.9 billion worth of cryptocurrency in nearly 150 attacks last year, according to researchers at TRM Labs.In September, cryptocurrency exchange Bitget said around $350 million worth of crypto had been stolen from its platform, highlighting the security risks facing the industry.Authorities have warned that organised crime groups are increasingly using cryptocurrencies to move money across borders outside the traditional financial system.Binance allows users to buy, sell and trade digital assets. It has more than 300 million registered users globally and around $160 billion in assets under custody, according to the exchange’s 2024 annual report.Binance.US, a separate cryptocurrency exchange, said it was not affected by the security incident. Coinbase also said it was unaffected and was monitoring the situation.In a separate incident on Thursday, prediction market operator Polymarket temporarily halted trading following a security issue involving a third-party provider. Trading later resumed, and the company said it would fully reimburse affected traders.
