Binance Hack Sparks Bitcoin Sell-Off, $1.6B In Liquidations: Exchange Uncovers ‘Additional Points Of Breach’

CoinGlass data showed that over $1.6 billion in crypto bets had been wiped out, with long positions accounting for $1.35 billion.

• In its latest update on X, Binance said it has reserved more than $6.34 billion in company funds to cover losses from the hack.
• It also said that investigators had identified additional points of breach that go beyond the compromised engineer’s laptop that was initially suspected.
• The exchange stated unauthorized outflows had stopped and that it was working to resume withdrawals.

Bitcoin (BTC) fell to a six-week low in morning trade on Friday after a reported $6.3 billion hack at Binance, triggering more than $1.6 billion in liquidations.

Bitcoin’s price fell over 3% in the last 24 hours, trading at around $77,300, paring losses after dipping to around $76,400. BTC was among the top-trending tickers on Stocktwits, with platform data showing chatter had more than doubled over the past day. However, retail sentiment around the apex cryptocurrency stayed in the ‘bearish’ zone.

This puts Bitcoin’s price on track to end October in the red, which has historically been a month of outsized gains barring last year’s crash. As of writing, Bitcoin’s price was down 7% for the month. 

The overall cryptocurrency market fell around 3.6% in the last 24 hours to around $2.68 trillion. CoinGlass data showed that over $1.6 billion in crypto bets had been wiped out in the same time span, with long positions accounting for the bulk of the bloodbath at $1.35 billion.

Binance Coin (BNB) took a bigger hit than Bitcoin, dropping 5.6% in the last 24 hours to around $679. BNB token was also among the top trending tickers on Stocktwits at the time of writing, with retail sentiment shifting to ‘bullish’ from ‘neutral’ territory over the past day. 

Binance Expands Investigation Into $6.3 Billion Breach

In its latest update on X, Binance said it has reserved more than $6.34 billion in company funds to cover losses from the hack, including $5 billion already held in the affected tokens, while continuing efforts to recover about $3 billion in frozen assets.

The largest cryptocurrency exchange in the world also said that investigators had uncovered “additional points of breach”, beyond the initial suspicions of the hack coming from a compromised employee’s laptop. The exchange said unauthorized outflows had stopped and that it was working to resume withdrawals.

Stolen Crypto Includes Bitcoin, Ethereum And Stablecoins

Blockchain analytics firm Arkham said wallets linked to the attacker held more than $5.7 billion in stolen cryptocurrencies at one point. The holdings included nearly $1.5 billion in Bitcoin, about $900 million in Ethereum (ETH), roughly $1.5 billion in USDT and more than $800 million in USDC.

Blockchain investigator ZachXBT, along with security and intelligence firms Blockaid and TRM Labs, said North Korea was likely behind the attack. 

The Binance incident was the second reported crypto-related security breach on Thursday. Prediction market provider Polymarket said one of its third-party providers had been compromised. However, the losses in that incident were reported at less than $3 million.

The slide on Bitcoin dragged on crypto equities in pre-market trade as well. Strategy (MSTR) and Coinbase (COIN) fell more than 7%, while USDC stablecoin issuer Circle (CRCL) dipped over 6% and Tom Lee-led Ethereum treasury Bitmine Immersion Technologies (BMNR) fell around 5.5%. 

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