Binance Halts Withdrawals After Suspected Hack Draining Billions in Crypto

Binance temporarily suspended withdrawals across multiple networks after a security incident that crypto watchers estimate drained at least $2 billion from the exchange's hot wallets, with some estimates reaching $5.7 billion. The world's largest crypto exchange said user funds are "completely safe" and that its security teams are investigating urgently. Circle froze about $800 million in Tether passing through its networks, while Tether itself froze roughly $1.56 billion tied to the breach. Binance founder Changpeng Zhao, who no longer runs the company but remains its largest shareholder, said on X that he expects users' funds to be "fully covered" without explaining the claim. Binance did not say whether it had received correspondence from the hackers, and it remains unclear who is behind the attack. If confirmed in the billions, the theft would rank among the largest crypto breaches on record, surpassing the $1.4 billion stolen from Bybit in 2025, which was blamed on North Korean hackers. Separately, Polymarket briefly halted trading after confirming a third-party compromise; researchers said hackers stole about $2 million in user funds via software from DebugBear.