Crypto giant Binance freezes $2.5bn of assets over suspected hack

Daily Mirror and Newswire report that Binance said on Thursday it was investigating a possible security breach and had frozen digital assets worth about $3 billion. Ada Derana gives a lower figure of $2.5 billion, while Hiru News (தமிழ்) also reports a freeze of $3 billion.

Newswire says the amount included about $1.6 billion in USDT frozen by Tether and roughly $800 million in USDC frozen by Circle, citing the companies’ executives. It reports that Binance suspended trading in some products while the assets were frozen, and that some of the freezing involved cryptocurrency companies using the platform.

Newswire reports that Binance had not disclosed the scope of the suspected breach or said whether funds were stolen. The outlet says the company stated its security teams were urgently reviewing information and that it would issue updates after verifying details. A company spokesperson said user funds were safe, and co-founder Yi He said Binance would cover hacking losses.

Newswire reports that former Binance chief Changpeng Zhao described the incident as appearing to be a hack and said, as a shareholder, he expected user funds to be covered. The outlet says Zhao founded Binance in 2017 and remains a major shareholder. It also reports that Bitcoin fell 3.2% on Thursday evening, below $79,000, following news of the possible breach.