Bitcoin dropped below $79,000 on Thursday after reports of a suspected multibillion-dollar security breach at Binance, the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange, unsettled digital-asset markets. The reports described large transfers from Binance-linked wallets and prompted major stablecoin issuers to freeze funds associated with the suspected activity.
Large outflows reported from Binance wallets
The size and nature of the incident remained unconfirmed. Social-media reports cited suspicious outflows of as much as $5.8 billion, while blockchain data showed about $3.55 billion in incoming transfers to an unidentified wallet. Conor Grogan, a senior director at Coinbase, also put the potential outflow figure at $5.8 billion.
Blockchain security company Blockaid said it was examining roughly $3.3 billion in suspicious outflows from Binance hot wallets across Ethereum, Arbitrum and Avalanche. Blockchain researcher Spreek separately flagged activity that reportedly involved a contract call allegedly funded by Tornado Cash.
Binance had not officially confirmed that it had been breached. Co-founder Yi He said on X that the exchange was aware of reports concerning a possible security issue and that its security teams were urgently reviewing the relevant information. She said the company would provide updates through official Binance channels once it had verified the facts.
Binance also warned users to be cautious of scams and not to trust unofficial links, messages or requests for account information. Binance.US said the reported incident did not affect its platform.
Stablecoin issuers freeze suspected funds
Tether Chief Executive Paolo Ardoino said Tether had frozen more than 1.567 billion USDT. Circle froze about $823 million in USDC, according to former Binance Chief Executive Changpeng Zhao, who remains a Binance shareholder.
Together, those actions represent between about $1.8 billion and $2.4 billion in frozen stablecoins, depending on which reports are used. Stablecoins are digital tokens designed to maintain a relatively stable value against a reference asset, commonly the U.S. dollar. Issuers can sometimes freeze tokens when they identify addresses linked to suspected theft or other illicit activity.
Ardoino said protecting the crypto industry and its partners was the company’s main priority. The reported freezes could limit the suspected attacker’s ability to move or convert part of the funds, although the full scale of the incident remained unclear.
Zhao wrote that, in his view, Binance appeared to have been hacked and said he expected all user funds to be fully covered. Binance had not released a formal account of the suspected breach, and neither law enforcement nor the exchange had identified its cause.
The estimates continued to change. One report placed the realized loss at close to 0.7% of Binance customer assets. If confirmed at the highest reported level, the incident would exceed the roughly $1.5 billion Bybit hack reported in February 2025 and become the largest crypto theft on record.
Aave reportedly froze lending markets to prevent the suspected attacker from borrowing against the assets. Bybit said its systems were operating normally, with trading and withdrawals available and user assets secure.
Bitcoin selloff follows security concerns
Bitcoin fell below $79,000 as reports of the suspected breach spread. The cryptocurrency reached a 24-hour high of $81,890 around midday before declining sharply after 4 p.m. Eastern Time. It later reached a low of $78,177.37.
Over the reported 24-hour period, bitcoin’s trading volume was approximately $26.14 billion, while its market capitalization stood at about $1.58 trillion. The move illustrates how concerns involving a major exchange can affect broader crypto markets even before the facts of an incident are fully established.
The exchange’s role is also significant: Binance is described in the source reporting as the world’s largest crypto exchange, so reports of unusual activity in its wallets can quickly influence market confidence, trading behavior and the movement of digital assets across other platforms.
Moneyiar market picture
Moneyiar market data recorded at 22:39–22:39 on October 25, 2026, showed bitcoin at $80,430.506808014, down 0.08% over 24 hours and 1.32% over seven days. Ethereum stood at $2,342.0570017305, up 0.02% over 24 hours and down 1.77% over seven days.
Tether USDt was priced at $0.9987425383, with a 0% 24-hour change and a 0.01% seven-day decline. BNB traded at $740.8618136891, up 0.81% over 24 hours and 3.32% over seven days. These figures are Moneyiar data at the stated time and differ from the intraday prices reported during the bitcoin selloff.
The original reporting was published by Bitcoin Magazine.
