Binance investigates possible security incident
More than $2.5 billion in cryptocurrency has been frozen, but Binance has not confirmed that any money was stolen.
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Cryptocurrency exchange Binance is investigating a possible security incident after blockchain analysts and security firms reported that large amounts of cryptocurrency had been moved from trading portfolios. According to Binance, more than $2.5 billion in assets has been frozen in total.
Binance, which describes itself as the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange, said on Thursday that it had deployed security teams to investigate a possible incident. The company has not confirmed that attackers stole any money. Deposits and withdrawals have temporarily been suspended for security checks and to freeze suspicious assets.
According to Binance, the total value of frozen assets stood at $2.54 billion on Thursday evening. The company said the amount could rise further as it works with law enforcement agencies, cryptocurrency issuers, blockchain companies and other market participants. Binance says customer assets are safe and promised to cover losses resulting from the incident.
The cryptocurrency companies Tether and Circle confirmed that they had frozen assets linked to the incident. According to Reuters, Tether reported almost $1.57 billion in frozen assets; Circle spoke of more than $800 million. Binance co-founder Yi He also said that Ripple had frozen around $200 million.
The scale of the possible theft has not yet been established. Blockchain analysts and security firms reported that billions of dollars’ worth of digital tokens had been moved from Binance wallets, but such transactions do not in themselves prove how much money was ultimately lost. Binance is therefore referring for now to a possible security problem and is awaiting the outcome of the investigation.
Changpeng Zhao, Binance’s co-founder and former chief executive, wrote on social media that the incident appeared to him to be a hack. Zhao no longer runs the company. His statement is not the result of an independent investigation and says nothing definitive about the technical cause or the eventual damage.
The incident affects a market in which transactions are generally carried out quickly and across borders. By freezing stablecoins directly, it may be possible to prevent some of the assets involved from being exchanged or moved, but this does not automatically clarify what happened. Binance has announced that it will publish a full investigative report later. Until then, the scale of the damage, the identity of any attackers and the precise method of attack remain uncertain.
The price of bitcoin fell by 3.2 per cent on Thursday evening to below $79,000, according to AP. That market movement is not evidence that Binance customer assets have disappeared. Binance.US, a separate American company, said according to Reuters that it had not been affected by the incident.
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The article’s central claims are confirmed by Binance, AP and Reuters. Claims about the possible hack and the eventual damage are explicitly presented as uncertain.
- confirmed Binance is investigating a possible security incident and has temporarily suspended deposits and withdrawals. — Binance says this in its official statement; AP describes the same measure. source
- confirmed More than $2.5 billion in cryptocurrency had been frozen. — AP reports a total of $2.54 billion given by Binance. source
- confirmed Tether froze almost $1.57 billion and Circle more than $800 million. — Reuters attributes these amounts to both companies. source
- confirmed The scale of any theft has not been established. — AP reports that Binance has not confirmed that any money was stolen. source
- confirmed Changpeng Zhao said that the incident appeared to be a hack. — AP and Reuters quote his public statement. source
- confirmed The price of bitcoin fell by 3.2 per cent on Thursday evening to below $79,000. — AP reports this market movement. source
- confirmed Binance.US said it had not been affected. — Reuters reports that Binance.US, as a separate exchange, was not affected by the incident. source
Editor's note
It is certain that Binance is investigating a possible security incident, has temporarily suspended withdrawals and deposits, and that several cryptocurrency companies have frozen billions of dollars in assets. The scale of any theft, the technical cause and the identity of the attackers remain uncertain; Binance has not yet published a definitive incident report.Sources
- Binance flags ‘potential security issue,’ says crypto firms froze more than $2.5 billion — The Associated Press
- Tether, Circle freeze $2.38 billion after Binance reports security incident — Reuters via Investing.com
- Binance suspends all deposits and withdrawals and pledges to cover losses related to the incident — Binance
More on this in Dutch media
- Het Parool — „binance cryptovaluta”
- NRC — „binance cryptovaluta”
- Tweakers — „binance cryptovaluta”