Binance, the world's largest cryptocurrency exchange, is investigating a major security breach after hackers allegedly moved billions of dollars in digital assets from wallets linked to the platform on October 29, 2026. The incident could become the biggest cryptocurrency heist in history, surpassing the $1.5 billion Bybit hack in 2025. Blockchain analysts estimate that up to $5.8 billion in digital assets may be linked to the suspicious transactions.
The suspected attack centred on a Binance wallet identified as Binance 14, which holds cryptocurrency on the Ethereum network. Blockchain researchers believe the attacker exploited a feature called EIP-7702, which allows ordinary cryptocurrency wallets to execute instructions through smart contract code. This feature allows a regular crypto wallet to perform more complex transactions using programmed instructions.
According to Cointelegraph, the attacker allegedly used malicious code to redirect funds from the Binance-linked wallet to an address under their control. Researchers also traced the funding of an address associated with the operation to Tornado Cash, a cryptocurrency mixing service that makes it harder to trace the origin of digital transactions.
As the suspicious transfers came to light, cryptocurrency companies moved to stop some of the assets from being spent. Tether and Circle, the companies behind the USDT and USDC stablecoins, respectively, froze billions of dollars' worth of tokens linked to the incident. According to Reuters, Tether and Circle froze more than $2.38 billion in stablecoins.
Binance co-founder Yi He also said Ripple had frozen approximately $200 million in RLUSD, its dollar-pegged stablecoin. However, freezing the assets does not mean all the funds have been recovered. Stablecoin issuers can block transactions involving their tokens, but cryptocurrencies such as Ethereum do not have a central issuer with the same powers.
Despite the scale of the incident, Binance has maintained that customers' funds are safe. The exchange initially said it was investigating reports of a potential security issue before updating its statement to assure users that their funds were completely safe. Binance founder Changpeng Zhao, popularly known as CZ, acknowledged the incident, saying it does look like a hack on Binance.
Currently, investigators and blockchain analysts are still tracing the movement of the assets. While CZ has acknowledged that Binance appears to have been hacked, the exchange has not published a final account of the breach or independently confirmed the reported $5.8 billion figure as money stolen. The incident has raised fresh concerns about the security of cryptocurrency exchanges, particularly as blockchain technology introduces new features that make digital transactions more flexible.
Key points
- An estimated $5.8 billion was stolen from Binance on October 29, 2026.
- Stablecoin issuers have already frozen over $2.38 billion in linked assets.
- Binance has assured users that their funds are safe.
