Binance Investigates Suspected $5.57 Billion Drain Across Three Blockchains

More than $5.57 billion in digital assets departed Binance-linked hot wallets across three networks on Thursday in an apparent breach, prompting emergency asset freezes by major stablecoin issuers ¹. The exchange stated that it is actively investigating a "potential security issue" but has not yet confirmed an impact on customer balances ¹. If verified, the outflow would mark the largest exploit in cryptocurrency history, eclipsing the $1.5 billion theft from Bybit in February 2025 ¹.

On-chain records show unauthorized outflows totaling $3.51 billion on Ethereum, $1.44 billion across 18,270 $BTC, and $630 million on Tron ¹. The primary Ethereum movement commenced at 20:24 UTC, transferring 167,464 $ETH alongside 63 secondary tokens, including 1.615 billion $USDT, to an unrecorded address ¹. Three minutes before the principal outflow, an address funded via Tornado Cash issued an EIP-7702 delegation targeting a Binance hot wallet ¹. Phylax Systems founder Odysseas Lamtzidi noted that the EIP-7702 mechanism permits standard accounts to execute delegated code that can approve future transactions without subsequent wallet signatures ¹. It remains unknown how the signature authorizing the initial delegation was obtained ¹.

Issuers Blacklist $1.8 Billion in Tether and USD Coin

Stablecoin operators intervened swiftly following the transfers. Tether blacklisted 975.1 million USDT in the recipient wallet, while Circle frozen 823 million $USDC at 21:04 UTC ¹. Circle Chief Executive Officer Jeremy Allaire stated on X that the company halted the tokens in coordination with law enforcement agencies and is assisting investigators ¹. Stablecoin issuers have previously taken targeted enforcement steps, similar to when Tether froze nearly $550M in Iran-linked assets during regulatory crackdowns.

Following the reports, BNB declined roughly 7% to trade near $699, while privacy token Monero ($XMR) advanced 6% to $637 ¹. At the time of writing, Bitcoin traded at $79,245, down 2.3% over the prior 24 hours. Binance previously suffered a security incident in 2019 involving the loss of 7,000 Bitcoin ¹. The exchange said it will deliver further operational updates once internal security reviews verify the underlying cause ¹.