Bitcoin drops below $77,000 as $6 billion Binance hack rattles crypto market

Bitcoin fell below $77,000 for the first time in more than a month on Friday, following a record security breach at Binance that resulted in the theft of more than $6 billion on October 29, and renewed concerns about the safety of cryptocurrency holdings.

The cryptocurrency declined by as much as 3.1% to $76,300, while Binance’s BNB token fell about 5% over 24 hours to around $700. Other digital assets, including tokens affected by the breach, also recorded losses.

The incident, described as the largest cryptocurrency theft on record, has intensified scrutiny of security at major digital-asset exchanges.

Binance breach raises security concerns

The Binance theft has dealt another blow to the cryptocurrency industry, which has spent years trying to address concerns about hacking, fraud and exchange failures.

Binance holds more than $135 billion in assets on its platform, according to data from DefiLlama. The scale of the reported theft has raised questions about the exchange’s security measures and its ability to protect customer assets.

Binance disclosed on Friday that it had reserved $6.34 billion in company funds following the incident.

• “The broader crypto market was already leaning bearish, which is why the selloff spread so quickly across the board,” said Jeff Ko, chief analyst at ViaBTC.

Ko added that Binance could absorb the losses.

Bitcoin faces broader market pressures

The selloff came as cryptocurrencies were already under pressure from wider financial market conditions and investor concerns about riskier assets.

Futures on the Nasdaq 100, which tracks major technology companies, fell 2.4% ahead of the market open following disappointing earnings reports from companies including Amazon.com Inc. and Intel Corp.

• Bitcoin had traded around $80,000 for much of the week before the latest decline. Market participants were also watching the expiry of $11 billion worth of cryptocurrency options on Deribit on Friday, an event that added to concerns about potential price swings.
• According to data from Coinglass, approximately $1.3 billion worth of bullish cryptocurrency positions were liquidated over a 24-hour period, reflecting the pressure on traders betting on further price increases.

The combination of broader market weakness, derivatives-market activity and the Binance breach contributed to the negative sentiment surrounding digital assets.

How the Binance heist happened

The October 29 breach involved the theft of more than $6 billion in cryptocurrency from digital wallets held at Binance, making it the largest cryptocurrency theft on record. The attack reportedly exploited an engineer’s laptop, allowing hackers to access a service container and initiate unauthorised withdrawal transactions.

• Blockchain intelligence firms, including TRM Labs, Pangolin Intelligence and Chainalysis, have linked the attack to North Korean cybercriminals, although investigations are ongoing. Following the breach, a coalition of cryptocurrency firms managed to freeze approximately $3 billion of the stolen assets to prevent further movement.
• Binance temporarily suspended deposits and withdrawals while conducting security checks, revoked authorisation associated with the affected address and engaged law enforcement agencies and blockchain intelligence firms to support investigations and recovery efforts.

The scale of the heist exceeds the $3.4 billion lost to cryptocurrency thefts across the entire industry in 2025, according to Chainalysis. North Korean-linked hackers alone accounted for at least $2.02 billion of cryptocurrency thefts that year.