Bitcoin fell sharply on October 29, 2026, following unconfirmed reports of a massive cyberattack on cryptocurrency exchange Binance. While Binance suspended certain products and stated customer funds were secure, major stablecoin issuers moved independently to freeze billions in digital assets as the market reacted.
The cryptocurrency market faced intense turbulence late Thursday as reports of a security breach at Binance rippled across trading platforms.
Market Impact and Price Drop on Binance
As speculation mounted regarding a security failure, the price of Bitcoin fell significantly. By 23:35 GMT, the leading cryptocurrency had dropped 3.41%, trading at 78,492 dollars.
Before Binance issued official communications, observers drew parallels to prior security incidents. Some market specialists described the event as potentially the most severe crypto platform breach in history, surpassing the February 2025 incident involving Bybit where perpetrators made off with more than 1.5 billion dollars.
Asset Freezes by Stablecoin Issuers
In response to the unfolding situation, major stablecoin operators intervened to restrict potentially compromised funds. The head of Tether announced the freezing of approximately 1.6 billion dollars in USDT linked to a prospective attack. Simultaneously, Circle chief executive Jeremy Allaire confirmed the immobilization of roughly 800 million dollars in USDC assets in coordination with regulatory authorities.
Binance hot wallets were drained of $5.60B today across Ethereum, Bitcoin and Tron, 67 assets in total.Tether and Circle have so far frozen $2.38B of it: $1.56B USDT ($1.18B on Ethereum, $379M on Tron) and $823M USDC.Not frozen: 18,270 BTC ($1.45B), 197K ETH ($451M) and about… pic.twitter.com/kbeEflM2pe
Tether’s USDT and Circle’s USDC serve as digital currencies pegged to the U.S. dollar, with USDT ranking as the third-largest cryptocurrency by circulating volume at approximately 180 billion dollars.
Exchange Response and Industry Commentary
Binance acknowledged the situation by confirming an investigation into the incident while temporarily suspending transactions across selected products. Representatives for the platform addressed client concerns directly regarding deposited assets.
Binance representatives told Rfi that
Changpeng Zhao, former platform chief and majority shareholder who no longer holds operational duties, used social media to characterize the event. Writing on the platform X, he stated that It looks like a cyberattack on Binance
.