Binance suspects approximately $2.8 billion cryptocurrency theft in digital assets moved out of its Ethereum wallets in a series of transactions. The largest cryptocurrency exchange company started investigations on the case.
Blockchain data showed that one of the exchange’s most active wallets, known as Binance 14, transferred large amounts of cryptocurrency to a newly created address on Thursday evening. Binance has not confirmed that customer funds were lost.
The founder of Binance Changpeng Zhao mentioned that the incident can be a hack, but users’ funds are safe. Zhao said all funds are expected to be covered. Binance said they’re investigating a potential security issue.
The stolen assets reportedly included approximately $1.6 billion in Tether (USDT), $780 million in USD Coin (USDC) and $440 million in Ether (ETH), alongside smaller cryptocurrency holdings. Stablecoin issuers Tether and Circle moved to freeze some of the affected assets. Unlike stablecoins, Ether cannot be frozen by a central issuer, leaving the reported $440 million in ETH beyond their direct control. The freezes could help prevent the attacker from moving some of the funds. Freezing assets still does not guarantee that they will be recovered or returned to their rightful owners.
How did the attack happen?
Blockchain records suggest the attacker used a technique referred to as EIP-7702, a feature that enables a cryptocurrency wallet to delegate specific operations to a smart contract. The attacker was able to receive the permission necessary for the withdrawal of assets from the compromised cryptocurrency wallet. However, the method through which these permissions were acquired is still unclear.
The attacker have also used a stolen private key, a hacked transaction-signing system or even had an insider access. None of the speculated possibilities can be confirmed yet.
Security analysts believe that the incident is mainly about stolen wallet credentials or signing infrastructures rather than a vulnerability flaw in the Ethereum platform.
Crypto markets react to the incident
The news has caused panic on various crypto platforms. Bitcoin went down to $79,000 mark, with Ether dropping below $2,240. The BNB token by Binance suffered a downfall of around 6.1% in the market.
If all the funds are confirmed as stolen, it will surpass the earlier major exchanges hacks including $1.46 billion Bybit hack of 2025. However, the total loss cannot be finalized since some of the withdrawn assets can still be retrieved.
Binance response to the hack
Binance has not confirmed whether customer funds were affected or whether it will use its Secure Asset Fund for Users (SAFU) to cover any losses.
The fund holds approximately 15,000 bitcoin, which worths approximately $1.19 billion at the rates used in the report. Although it could provide extra security, it would not suffice to compensate for the indicated loss of $2.8 billion.
Recovering frozen funds will be critical for calculating the full consequences of the incident. Next steps will depend on Binance’s investigation process, the recovery of frozen cryptocurrency and the confirmation of customer losses by the exchange.