Key Takeaways
- Binance confirmed a $6.3 billion hack, with investigators tracing the breach to a compromised employee laptop.
- Bitcoin plunged to $76,320 as crypto liquidations topped $1.54 billion, with longs accounting for 80%.
- Binance said $3 billion in stolen funds was frozen and pledged to cover losses as withdrawals remain suspended.
Market Crash Triggers $1.5B in Liquidations
Cryptocurrency market liquidations surpassed $1.54 billion Friday morning after Binance confirmed hackers stole $6.3 billion in what is shaping up to be the industry’s largest breach on record. Market data shows wiped-out long positions accounted for $1.29 billion, just over 80% of the total, as news of the exploit triggered a sharp marketwide sell-off.
Bitcoin led the decline, dropping to a multiweek low of $76,320. Liquidations involving the top cryptocurrency approached $500 million, a fivefold spike from the less than $99 million reported 12 hours earlier. Erased long positions made up $405 million (81%) of bitcoin’s total, while shorts accounted for the remaining $93 million.
Ethereum experienced a similar squeeze, with long liquidations alone topping $300 million against less than $55 million in shorts. Most digital assets followed suit, though HYPE proved to be a rare exception: after surging 20% toward a new high, its $19.65 million in short liquidations outpaced the $12 million in longs.
Although bitcoin later rebounded to $78,400 at 2:03 a.m. EST, the sell-off erased gains sparked by the release of U.S. third-quarter GDP data. The retreat left bitcoin down 2% over 24 hours and 5% below its monthly opening price of $83,500 heading into the final day of October.
Onchain analyst ZachXBT linked the exploit to Tradertraitor, an intelligence-backed threat actor tied to North Korea, echoing warnings from several industry security observers.
Meanwhile, Binance said its investigation traced the intrusion to a compromised laptop belonging to a DevOps engineer. The breach allowed the attacker to access a service container and execute unauthorized withdrawals. Binance noted that while partners froze roughly $3 billion of the stolen funds, the company will use its Secure Asset Fund for Users (SAFU) and corporate reserves to cover all remaining customer losses.
Deposits and withdrawals remain halted, Binance added:
“Binance has temporarily suspended deposits and withdrawals while security checks are completed, revoked the affected address authorization [and] engaged law enforcement and blockchain intelligence partners to trace and recover funds.”
