Binance hack: $6.3 billion stolen in largest crypto heist in history
TRM Labs said the theft itself took place in minutes and said that the attacker gained the ability to make Binance’s hot wallet signing system produce valid signatures across chains.
Billions frozen, billions still at large
A rapid response from stablecoin issuers and blockchain networks contained part of the damage. Tether, Circle, Ripple, and World Liberty Financial collectively froze approximately $2.67 billion in stablecoins. Arbitrum’s Security Council used emergency powers to freeze an additional 8,426 ETH and 74.6 million ARB tokens. Binance confirmed a verified frozen total of approximately $3 billion.
The attacker, however, moved quickly to convert freezable stablecoins into assets beyond any issuer’s reach. About 325 million USDT was sold through decentralized trading protocols in exchange for approximately 122,300 ETH at a steep discount of more than 10%. As of October 30, 2026, the attacker holds more than 420,000 ETH and 18,270 BTC – worth approximately $2.4 billion – in assets that no issuer can freeze.
However, Bernardo Brites, CEO of Trace Finance, a stablecoin infrastructure company told Reuters that: “The more time passes, the less likely they will be able to fold those funds into other exchanges or payment providers – they essentially get blacklisted.”
Binance said a detailed technical post-mortem will be published once the investigation is complete and facts are fully verified. The investigation remains ongoing.
