Binance halts deposits and withdrawals, pledges to cover all losses from suspected hack

The pledge to cover all losses steadies customers more than it steadies the market. BNB is still falling, which suggests traders are pricing in the cost to Binance’s balance sheet and a longer disruption. With money unable to move in or out of the world’s largest exchange, prices elsewhere may stray further from Binance’s, and selling pressure may build up rather than ease. The key number is the gap between what was taken and what has been frozen. If it’s near $760 million, SAFU can cover it. If it’s in the billions, Binance’s finances come under scrutiny and BNB probably has further to fall.---Slow burn bad news story this one ... as it happened:Tether freezes $971M USDT amid suspected Binance hack as crypto sells offBinance appears hacked, CZ says, as Tether and Circle freeze $1.79B in stablecoinsBinance pauses withdrawals after suspected $3B+ hack as Tether, Circle freeze $2.4B--- Binance has stopped funds moving in or out and promised to cover every loss, but until it says how big the loss is, it’s a promise with no number attached.Summary:Binance suspended all deposits and withdrawals and pledged to cover all losses from the suspected hack, with co-CEO Yi He reported as announcing it.Binance says verified frozen assets total $2.54 billion, including more than $2.37 billion from Tether and Circle.The size of the loss is unclear. CZ suggests a little over $1 billion, on-chain estimates point to a gap of about $760 million, and wider tallies of $5.57 billion would leave more than $3 billion uncovered.Binance’s SAFU emergency fund holds about $1 billion in bitcoin, enough to cover the lower estimate.There is no reopening date, loss figure or attribution yet, and a full post-mortem has been promised.BNB fell 8.6% to near $694 and bitcoin slipped to about $77,700. Binance has suspended all deposits and withdrawals and pledged to cover all losses from a suspected hack, as the exchange put the value of funds frozen so far at $2.54 billion. The move, announced on X shortly after 00:00 GMT on Friday, 30 October, widens an earlier partial pause on some networks. It also turns co-founder Changpeng Zhao’s personal expectation of full coverage into a company commitment.Binance said the suspension would stay in place while its team runs security checks, freezes related funds and works with law enforcement. It promised a full post-mortem once its investigation is complete. ChainCatcher and PANews attributed the pledge to co-chief executive Yi He. The exchange gave no timetable for reopening and did not say how much it has lost, how the attacker gained access or who was responsible. It also paused trading on Binance Alpha, its platform for early-stage tokens.In a separate post, Binance said verified frozen assets total $2.54 billion, with more tracing underway. Tether has frozen more than 1.567 billion USDT and Circle more than 800 million USDC, about $2.37 billion combined. That leaves roughly $170 million frozen by parties not yet named.The size of the hole Binance has promised to fill remains unclear. Zhao has said losses may be slightly above $1 billion. FinanceFeeds tracked about $3.3 billion leaving Binance’s Ethereum hot wallets, which against the $2.54 billion frozen would leave a gap of about $760 million. A wider tally from Decrypt of at least $5.57 billion, which includes bitcoin and Tron outflows not yet tied to the attacker, would leave more than $3 billion uncovered. Frozen funds are also not the same as recovered funds, and getting them back through issuers or courts typically takes weeks.Binance has a backstop. Its Secure Asset Fund for Users, or SAFU, an emergency reserve set up in 2018, holds about $1 billion in bitcoin. The exchange drew on it to cover a loss of 7,000 BTC in a 2019 hack. SAFU would cover the lower estimate, but anything near the higher figure would have to come from Binance’s own balance sheet.Markets have drifted lower as the story has developed. Binance’s BNB token traded near $694 at about 00:15 GMT, down 8.6% over 24 hours, while bitcoin slipped to around $77,700, according to CoinGecko data cited by FinanceFeeds. Both are weaker than when withdrawals were first paused.For Binance users, the immediate effect is that funds held on the exchange cannot be moved for now, even though the company says they are safe. Users should rely only on official Binance channels, as scams typically follow incidents like this. For background on how the attack unfolded and the early freezes, see our earlier report on Binance pausing withdrawals after the suspected hack.The next milestones are a confirmed loss figure, the post-mortem and a date for withdrawals to reopen. If losses are confirmed at the reported scale, the incident would surpass the $1.5 billion Bybit hack of February 2025 as the largest crypto theft on record. This article was written by Eamonn Sheridan at investinglive.com.