Cryptocurrency liquidations exceeded $1.54 billion on Friday, October 30, 2026, after Binance said hackers took $6.3 billion in what could become the biggest breach the industry has ever recorded. The sell-off disproportionately hit leveraged long positions as bitcoin plunged to a multiweek low.

The Binance hack matters because the exchange is the world's largest crypto trading venue, and the scale of the theft dwarfs previous incidents. The estimated outflow far exceeds the roughly $1.5 billion drained from Bybit in February 2025 and the approximately $350 million incident at Bitget.

Binance Hack Details and Response

Binance's initial investigation points to a compromised laptop belonging to a DevOps engineer, which gave the attacker entry to a service container and the ability to carry out withdrawals without authorization. The exchange said it found no evidence of a private key leak.

Binance said partners froze roughly $3 billion of the stolen funds and pledged to cover all remaining customer losses using its Secure Asset Fund for Users (SAFU) and corporate reserves. Deposits and withdrawals remain suspended while security checks are completed.

"Binance has temporarily suspended deposits and withdrawals while security checks are completed, revoked the affected address authorization [and] engaged law enforcement and blockchain intelligence partners to trace and recover funds," the company said.

Yi He, a co-founder, posted at 00:04 UTC that customer funds remain secure and the exchange will absorb all losses from the hack. Changpeng Zhao, Binance's co-founder, said earlier that it "does look like a hack" while the exchange itself initially said only that it was investigating reports of a potential security issue.

ZachXBT, an onchain analyst, attributed the exploit to Tradertraitor, a threat actor backed by intelligence services and connected to North Korea, mirroring alerts from multiple industry security watchers.

Market Reaction to Binance Hack

Bitcoin led the decline, dropping to $76,320, its lowest level since September 18, before rebounding to $78,400 at 2:03 a.m. EST. The drop wiped out gains that followed the release of U.S. third-quarter GDP data and pushed bitcoin 2% lower over 24 hours, leaving it 5% under the $83,500 price at which October began.

Long positions that were wiped out totaled $1.29 billion, representing just over 80% of all liquidations. Bitcoin liquidations neared $500 million, five times the under $99 million seen 12 hours before, with erased longs making up $405 million (81%) of bitcoin's total.

Ethereum faced a comparable squeeze, as liquidations of long positions surpassed $300 million while shorts came in below $55 million. BNB, Binance's own token, took the heaviest hit among major assets, slumping more than 4% to $715, while ether fell 3% daily to below $2,250.

Selling pressure was most heavily concentrated on Binance, where the incident occurred, according to Digital Today. Other major venues including Bybit, OKX and HTX also saw selling pick up for a time, though that pressure has since eased somewhat.

On Binance, fund outflows were notable as users worried about trading risks, and major products in derivatives markets fell broadly. Altcoins in particular saw open interest drop by more than 10 percent across many tokens, indicating investors quickly moved to close existing positions and reduce market risk.

Stablecoin Freezes and DeFi Impact

Funds were moved out of Binance wallets by the attacker, prompting issuers to freeze major stablecoins among the outflow, including Tether (USDT) and USD Coin (USDC). Tether froze more than 1.567 billion USDT related to the hack, while Circle said it is closely tracking reports of the potential exploit.

Some funds flowed into the DeFi lending protocol Aave, where the attacker supplied 60 million USDT and borrowed 19,762 wETH, about $45 million, against it, according to Marc Zeller of the Aave Chan Initiative. Aave halted new deposits and new loans across a broad range of markets temporarily to stop further risks from spreading.

Investigators are connecting the attack to abuse of the delegated authority structure in Ethereum Improvement Proposal EIP-7702, according to Digital Today. The attacker swapped stolen funds into large amounts of ETH through decentralised exchanges and other venues, raising concerns that abnormal, large-scale fund movements can distort normal supply-demand dynamics and price formation.

The attacker address now holds 197,460 ETH, worth more than $440 million, none of which has been sold so far. The attacker keeps distributing smaller tokens that Tether and Circle cannot freeze, including 88.5 million RLUSD, 7.0 million UNI, 7.77 trillion PEPE, 29,934 WBETH and 217.5 million ENA.

Liquidity Concerns and What Comes Next

The Binance hack led to reduced liquidity across the overall crypto market, according to Digital Today's analysis. When the order book becomes thinner, even relatively small trades can move prices sharply, and because liquidation risks in leveraged positions remain, further sharp price swings and possible cascading forced liquidations cannot be ruled out.

Traders are watching not just the price decline but also whether tighter liquidity conditions could persist for an extended period. After major exchange incidents in the past, risk-off sentiment strengthened and market liquidity fell in a recurring pattern, the report noted.

Whether the shock spreads into the DeFi market is also a key variable. The fallout appears to be widening as the outflow has led to freeze actions by stablecoin issuers and lending restrictions by DeFi protocols.

Binance processes Bitcoin, Ether and USDT withdrawals on Ethereum and Tron, but Solana, XRP and stablecoins on Solana, Optimism, Avalanche, NEAR and Polygon remain paused, citing wallet maintenance. DefiLlama still showed about $144 billion in customer assets on Binance addresses at 21:15 UTC.

Open questions remain about how the attacker obtained the signature for the hot wallet. Bybit took only days to recover in 2025, and Binance will be measured against that, according to CryptoTicker.

Conclusion

The Binance hack, with an estimated $6.3 billion impact, stands as the largest breach in crypto industry history and triggered over $1.54 billion in liquidations as bitcoin fell to a multiweek low. Binance has frozen roughly $3 billion of the stolen funds and pledged to cover all customer losses through its SAFU fund and corporate reserves, though deposits and withdrawals remain suspended. The next concrete step is the exchange's promised updated proof of reserves and the completion of security checks, while the market watches whether the attacker moves the 197,460 ETH still held in the exploit address.

Frequently Asked Questions

How much was stolen in the Binance hack on October 30, 2026?

Binance estimated the total impact at around $6.3 billion, of which about $3 billion has been frozen on-chain by partners. The exchange said it will cover all remaining customer losses using its Secure Asset Fund for Users (SAFU) and corporate reserves.

What caused the Binance hack?

Binance's initial investigation traced the intrusion to a compromised laptop belonging to a DevOps engineer, which allowed the attacker to access a service container and execute unauthorized withdrawals. The exchange said it found no evidence of a private key leak.

How did the Binance hack affect bitcoin's price?

Bitcoin plunged to $76,320, its lowest level since September 18, before rebounding to $78,400. The sell-off left bitcoin down 2% over 24 hours and 5% below its monthly opening price of $83,500 heading into the final day of October.

Who is suspected of carrying out the Binance hack?

Onchain analyst ZachXBT linked the exploit to Tradertraitor, an intelligence-backed threat actor tied to North Korea, echoing warnings from several industry security observers.

Are Binance withdrawals still suspended after the hack?

Binance processes Bitcoin, Ether and USDT withdrawals on Ethereum and Tron, but Solana, XRP and stablecoins on Solana, Optimism, Avalanche, NEAR and Polygon remain paused, citing wallet maintenance. The exchange said deposits and withdrawals are temporarily suspended while security checks are completed.