Reports of large cryptocurrency transfers from Binance triggered concerns about a possible hack on October 29, 2026, although the exchange had not initially confirmed a security breach. Binance is among the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchanges by trading volume, and movements from its wallets are traceable in real time on public blockchains.

The Walter Bloomberg account reported $2.77 billion in outflows across five blockchains, while SolanaFloor described the movements as approaching $3 billion. SolanaFloor wrote on X:

🚨JUST IN: @binance wallets record almost $3 billion in outflows amid suspicions that the exchange has been hacked. No hack has been confirmed as of yet. — SolanaFloor (@SolanaFloor) October 29, 2026

Crypto prices declined as the reports circulated. Bitcoin fell below $78,500, Ether dropped below $2,250, Solana traded below $96, and XRP fell below $1.25.

Ethereum and Bitcoin transfers

The alerts focused on the newly created Ethereum address 0x5227f603C1eE34CE3C06eFe6477003BDfCCB2f8c. Etherscan records show that it received funds from several Binance-labeled wallets within roughly 20 minutes.

Binance 16 sent a further 28,005.6 ETH. Combined with a transfer from Binance 14, that brought the address’s balance to approximately 195,469 ETH, worth about $452 million at the reported prices. The relevant transaction records are available on Etherscan and Etherscan.

The funds were then distributed to new addresses. The recipient sent 500 million USDT to one address, another 500 million USDT to a second, and 200 million USDT to a third—about $1.2 billion in total. Each transfer followed a small 0.5 ETH test transaction, a common method for confirming a destination address before moving larger amounts. Several of the receiving addresses carried warning flags on Etherscan.

A separate series of Bitcoin transfers also left Binance. Alerts shared by SolanaFloor showed 7,636 BTC, 4,696 BTC, 2,946 BTC, and 1,409 BTC moving to new wallets. The transfers totaled approximately 16,700 BTC, valued at about $1.3 billion. The Ethereum transfers described above were likely already included in the $2.77 billion estimates and therefore do not represent additional losses.

The initial reports also identified 780 million USDC moving from Binance Hot Wallet 34. Hot wallets are internet-connected wallets that exchanges use for day-to-day deposits and withdrawals. On-chain records and wallet labels show the transfers, but they do not establish who controls the receiving addresses or whether Binance authorized the transactions.

Investigators assess the activity

In an initial alert on X, on-chain investigator Spreek said that a Binance wallet appeared to have been emptied into a newly created externally owned address, a standard Ethereum account type controlled by a private key rather than by code. Spreek also said the contract call had been funded through Tornado Cash, a mixing service designed to obscure the link between sending and receiving addresses. Etherscan’s record identifies the address as funded by Binance 14. Spreek noted that routine wallet maintenance remained a possible explanation, although he considered the activity suspicious.

Developer foobar described the situation as a likely ongoing compromise, citing the 780 million USDC transfer as an indication that the activity was still continuing. Trader Michaël van de Poppe wrote on X that Binance was potentially hacked for $2.8 billion, a figure drawn from the Walter Bloomberg report:

Breaking news: Binance is potentially hacked for $2.8 billion. Stay safe out there everyone. — Michaël van de Poppe (@CryptoMichNL) October 29, 2026

The post is available on X.

Updates from Binance, Tether, and Circle

No statement confirming a hack was visible on Binance’s X timeline as of 20:59 UTC. At that stage, the exchange had not confirmed an incident, and the authorization status of the transfers remained unknown.

At 21:07 UTC, the Walter Bloomberg account reported that Tether had frozen $971 million in USDT amid the suspected Binance hack. That represented most of the roughly $1.2 billion in USDT sent by the flagged address to new wallets. Binance had still not issued an update at that time.

At about 21:30 UTC, Binance co-founder Changpeng Zhao said the outflows looked like a hack and that he expected user funds to be fully covered. Binance said it was investigating and had not confirmed any impact on user funds. Tether had frozen about $1.5 billion in USDT, while Circle had frozen about $823 million in USDC. USDT and USDC are centrally issued stablecoins whose issuers can freeze tokens at specific addresses on public blockchains, the mechanism behind these reported freezes. Binance’s investigation, the unresolved authorization status of the transfers, and any further freeze actions by stablecoin issuers remained the open questions.

The later update on Zhao’s comments and the stablecoin freezes was published by Coindoo.