Binance $5.8 Billion Hack Triggers Crypto Market Crash. What Really Happened?

The world’s largest crypto exchange, Binance, has confirmed it was hacked, with multiple cryptocurrencies valued at between $2 billion and $5.8 billion drained.

According to a forensic analysis of the event by security firm Blockaid, the attacker targeted two Binance hot wallets named “Binance 14” and “Binance 16”. They then siphoned multiple cryptocurrencies, including $1.6 billion in $USDT, $62.6 million in RLUSD, $450 million in Ethereum ($ETH), $800 million in $USDC, 6.19 million Uniswap ($UNI), and 2.26 million Chainlink ($LINK). The funds were then directed to a newly created address that was recently funded through the privacy mixer Tornado Cash.

Damage control

At the moment, Binance security teams are actively investigating the attack. However, stablecoin issuers Tether and Circle have promptly frozen their respective assets in what is seen as a team action to protect the crypto industry. Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino confirmed that the firm froze over $1.56 billion in $USDT, while Circle CEO Jeremy Allaire similarly announced the freeze of over $800 million in $USDC.

DeFi lending giant Aave took similar action, freezing its lending markets to block the attacker from using the loot to borrow unfreezable assets.

Meanwhile, Binance co-founder and major shareholder Changpeng Zhao (CZ) confirmed the safety of all user funds, while expressing appreciation for Tether and Circle’s quick actions.

Crypto’s biggest hack?

By total loot valuation, the event marks the largest hack in the history of crypto, surpassing Bybit’s record of $1.5 billion.

However, the fact that a considerable portion ($2.3 billion) of those proceeds were frozen almost immediately means the remaining unrecoverable amount is much lower (about $3.5 billion).

The anatomy of the attack points to a hot wallet key compromise similar to the one that recently impacted Bitget, suggesting DPRK actors.

Crypto market reaction

At press time, 3.13% of the overall crypto market cap had been wiped out due to the Binance hack, bringing the remaining amount down to 2.63 trillion.

Bitcoin (BTC) slid 2.92%, losing the $81,000 hold and reclaiming $78,852. Ethereum ($ETH) moved in tandem, though losses were much higher (down 3.64% to trade at $2.272). The other impacted assets traded as follows:

• XRP down 6.03% to trade at $1.24
• $BNB down 7.13% to trade at $702.54
• $UNI down 13.19% to trade at $6.29
• $LINK down 7.59% to trade at $10.92
• Ethena (ENA) down 14.4% to trade at $0.18
• Pepe (PEPE) down 11.41% to trade at $0.054
• Aave (AAVE) down 10.4% to trade at $120.64