Binance hack: billions of dollars in crypto frozen

Binance, the world's largest cryptocurrency exchange, reported a suspected breach on 30 October 2026. The firm suspended transactions while it carries out security checks and said it would "cover all losses". That is the description given by BBC News; the BBC article itself was not available to us, so we rely on other publications.

What is known about the attack

According to Polish media citing CNN and Reuters, around $6bn in cryptocurrency was stolen from the company's digital wallets. Rzeczpospolita, citing Reuters, gives a figure of $6.3bn and writes that analysts say it may be the largest crypto theft in history.

Binance representatives said that preliminary findings suggest the attackers used a laptop belonging to one of the firm's engineers. This reportedly gave them access to a service container and let them carry out unauthorised withdrawals. TVN24 notes that experts point to North Korea as the most likely culprit. This is an expert assessment, not an officially confirmed finding.

Frozen funds

Part of the stolen funds has been blocked. TVN24 writes of a team of experts from crypto firms that managed to freeze about $3bn. Spider's Web, meanwhile, reports that the issuers of popular stablecoins, which are cryptocurrencies pegged to a traditional currency, activated emergency blocks and froze more than 10.16bn zloty in total. The sources give amounts in different currencies, and it is not clear whether they refer to the same funds.

Spider's Web also reports that within a day 3.8bn zloty disappeared from the accounts of 161,000 users trading with leverage. Almost 1.38bn zloty of that came from Binance's position liquidation mechanism. These figures come from that one outlet.

The situation for users

With transactions suspended, ordinary customers cannot for now withdraw funds or convert them into cash. According to Spider's Web, much depends on whether the exchange actually covers the losses from its own reserves. The company says it will, but it has not yet said when transactions will resume.

What this means for you

The sources do not describe consequences specifically for users in the UK. People who hold cryptocurrency on Binance should follow the exchange's announcements and use only its official channels. It is worth being wary of messages asking for login details or offering to "unlock" funds.