SINGAPORE, Oct 30 (Reuters) - Binance, the world's largest cryptocurrency exchange, said a security breach had resulted in an estimated $6.3 billion impact that analysts said could amount to the biggest crypto heist ever.
Binance said it had worked with partners to freeze the affected assets, with about $3 billion located so far. It gave no update on the status of the remaining $3.3 billion.
The possible hacking sent crypto prices lower. Bitcoin hit a six-week low and was last down 3% at $76,469.82,
while ether was down more than 3% at $2,185.83.
Shares in crypto exchange Coinbase Global slid 4.8% while those of bitcoin buyer Strategy fell nearly 6% in extended US trading.
Here are some comments from analysts and investors:
ERIC JARDINE, HEAD OF RESEARCH AT CHAINALYSIS:
"The investigation is ongoing, and we cannot yet confirm the cause of the hack. As of 8:30 p.m. ET (0030 GMT), we have confirmed that at least $5.912 billion was stolen, with funds moving across multiple blockchains, including Bitcoin, Ethereum, Tron, Ripple and several Layer 2 networks.
"Binance has also confirmed that approximately $3 billion has been frozen. Blockchain transparency and coordination across the industry are helping disrupt the movement of stolen funds. Our investigators are actively identifying additional opportunities to freeze funds and support recovery efforts."
AMANDA HE, CHIEF INVESTMENT OFFICER, CHAINUP INVESTMENT, SINGAPORE:
"The initial drop may have been because the hacker was selling the coins. But after 8 a.m. (0000 GMT), as the Asian morning session got underway, that has caused panic sentiment to spread further... Binance is still the largest exchange in the market by trading volume, so it is really at the center of this storm — and at the center of market activity.
"We don't have a large position on Binance. It accounts for less than 20% of our overall holdings. But for the positions we do have there, we've sold everything for now. Anything that can be moved out, we move first. Things that can't be moved, we sell, shifting into safe-haven assets instead such as stablecoins. Withdrawals have now been suspended."
TIM SUN, SENIOR RESEARCHER, HASHKEY GROUP, HONG KONG:
"We believe the implications of the Binance incident could well extend beyond the immediate loss of assets. The incident could rank among the largest security breaches in the history of the cryptocurrency industry.
"Our bigger concern is the potential liquidity impact. As the largest digital-asset trading platform globally, any disruption to Binance's deposit and withdrawal operations could affect market makers' ability to move capital across venues."
GEOFFREY KENDRICK, HEAD OF DIGITAL ASSETS RESEARCH, STANDARD CHARTERED, LONDON:
"I suspect the negative price action still has some way to go. Only after assets are unfrozen and more detail of the hack emerges will we find a new base."
DAMON XU, FOUNDER OF 1TOKEN, SINGAPORE:
"We expect cross-exchange strategies to be scaled back and leverage to decline. Even if affected users are ultimately made whole, funds being locked during the interim could leave traders in a situation where they are profitable on one venue but unable to access capital, while facing margin shortages and forced liquidations on another.
"Decentralized exchanges could stand to benefit. The strong performance of Hyperliquid during this period is noteworthy, as some capital and trading activity may migrate on-chain."
ARAVIND SRINIVASAN, HEAD OF SYSTEMATIC OTC BUSINESS AT CRYPTO MARKET MAKER GSR:
"It's the biggest hack in history... spreads are wider and liquidity is thin in Binance too on spot. The average bid/ask spread on spot bitcoin was five times wider than normal earlier this morning, and 2.5 times for ether. Spreads have since narrowed slightly."
KENNETH GOH, DIRECTOR OF PRIVATE WEALTH MANAGEMENT AT UOB KAY HIAN, SINGAPORE:
"Crypto has a long record of exchange thefts. Mt. Gox collapsed in 2014 after losing close to $500 million in bitcoin, and Bybit lost about $1.5 billion only last year.
"What stands out this time is where it happened. The world's largest exchange should have the strongest controls in the industry, and it has still been breached. Investors will now look more closely at where their assets are held and who is responsible when something goes wrong."
MARK KARPELES, CEO OF KARPELES LAB, FORMER HEAD OF MT. GOX:
"Binance appears to have split its assets across multiple systems (ensuring a hack can only affect a part of the assets), but even so a single hack is a large loss. It looks like the attacker somehow managed to get a valid delegation for both Binance 14 and Binance 16, which means they likely found the private key used by those addresses."
YUYA HASEGAWA, MARKET ANALYST, CRYPTOCURRENCY EXCHANGE BITBANK, TOKYO:
"The reported scale of the incident is certainly alarming. However, the full extent of the damage remains unclear, particularly as stablecoin issuers have already frozen a substantial portion of the affected assets.
"The biggest concern is not necessarily the amount stolen itself, but whether the incident triggers a broader loss of confidence in centralized exchanges, potentially leading to further withdrawals, liquidity disruptions, and forced selling.
"That said, if Binance can demonstrate that customer assets remain secure, cover any losses, and restore normal operations promptly, the market impact could prove relatively short-lived. Bitcoin's underlying fundamentals have not been directly compromised by this incident."
JEFF KO, CHIEF ANALYST, VIABTC, HONG KONG:
"I don't expect the stolen BTC to add much selling pressure. Bitcoin addresses can't be frozen, but every coin is traceable on-chain, and Bitcoin has no mixing tool as deep or liquid as Tornado Cash. In effect, much of that BTC is likely to stay 'locked' and might take years to go to the market. ETH is a different story. It can be laundered far more easily through Tornado Cash, so I would expect ongoing selling pressure and relative weakness in ETH. For perspective, after the Bybit hack, markets took only weeks to recover.
"Beyond sentiment, this incident once again highlights the security risks of centralized exchanges, and of the crypto market more broadly amid AI development. That said, the breach appears to stem from how transactions were signed and authorized, not from a smart contract exploit."
JOSHUA CHU, CO-CHAIR OF THE HONG KONG WEB3 ASSOCIATION, HONG KONG:
"This incident puts four fronts in play: regulators protecting the public, law enforcement pursuing offenders, civil litigation recovering assets, and ecosystem players ensuring they do not become the getaway route for stolen funds. For crypto players still resisting government cooperation, the contradiction is awkward: regulation is ‘overreach’ while profits flow, but government is ‘not doing enough’ when the money disappears."
(Reporting by Ankur Banerjee, Gregor Stuart Hunter and Rae Wee in Singapore, Rocky Swift in Tokyo and Summer Zhen and Jiaxing Li in Hong Kong; Editing by Jamie Freed)
