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On-chain estimates suggest more than $5.5 billion may have been transferred out of Binance hot wallets, and Tether has frozen more than 1.567 billion USDT

Some on-chain trackers estimated on October 29 that the assets suspected of being transferred out of Binance hot wallets amounted to more than $5.5 billion, with funds flowing to new addresses, and the related transactions involved Tornado Cash fund paths. Binance said officially that it is actively investigating potential security issue reports and stated that user funds are completely safe, but has not confirmed a specific amount.

Changpeng Zhao said in a post that the incident looks like a hack attack on Binance, and said that user funds are safe. Paolo Ardoino said in a post that Tether has frozen more than 1.567 billion USDT related to a potential Binance exchange hack. Jeremy Allaire said that Circle has coordinated with law enforcement to freeze more than $800 million in USDC related to the incident and will continue to support the investigation.

Previously, on-chain data and media reports showed that the main transfers included about 161.5 million USDT, a large amount of ETH and other tokens, involving multiple hot wallets labeled by Binance. If the final confirmed scale is close to the estimate, it would exceed the previously roughly $1.5 billion Bybit incident. Binance has not yet confirmed user fund losses or a final characterization.

Original sources:

  1. Title: BINANCE HACK. WHAT WE KNOW SO FAR... Publisher: related summary post (including on-chain estimates) Publication date: 2026-10-29 URL: related X post Nature of source: on-chain tracking summary Verification status: summary content read and cross-checked Supporting content: some trackers estimated the suspected transfer scale at more than $5.5 billion; official statements and frozen amounts.

  2. Title: Tether froze more than 1.567B USDT related to a potential Binance exchange hack. Publisher: Paolo Ardoino (@paoloardoino) Publication date: 2026-10-29 URL: https://x.com/paoloardoino/status/2115918000373346709 Nature of source: Tether CEO original post Verification status: original post read Supporting content: Tether froze more than 1.567 billion USDT related to a potential Binance hack.

  3. Title: Our teams are aware of reports of a potential security issue... User funds are completely safe. Publisher: Binance (@binance) Publication date: 2026-10-29 URL: related official post Nature of source: Binance official account original post Verification status: read Supporting content: under investigation; user funds are completely safe; amount not yet confirmed.

  4. Title: Circle is closely tracking reports... frozen more than 800M USDC... Publisher: Jeremy Allaire (@jerallaire) Publication date: 2026-10-29 URL: related original post Nature of source: Circle CEO original post Verification status: previously read Supporting content: coordinated with law enforcement to freeze more than $800 million in USDC.

ABAB AI Insight

On-chain estimated amounts rose from an earlier range of roughly $2.5 billion to $3.5 billion to more than $5.5 billion in some trackers, reflecting a cumulative estimate change after broader multi-chain and multi-wallet tracking, rather than a single audited final loss figure. Binance officially still maintained the wording that it is investigating and that user funds are completely safe, creating an information layering with shareholders' and external issuers' statements.

Tether updated the frozen amount to more than 1.567 billion USDT, up from an earlier roughly $971 million, showing that the issuer continued expanding the blacklist scope as the incident developed. Circle's law-enforcement-coordinated freeze remained at more than $800 million. Together, the two have locked the relevant stablecoins at receiving addresses, limiting further transfers, but this does not mean the assets have been recovered or that the incident has been finally characterized by Binance.

If the estimated scale is close to the confirmed figure, the incident would be significantly larger than the previous roughly $1.5 billion Bybit case, but current public information has not directly equated the hot wallet transfers with confirmed user fund losses. The outcome of subsequent official verification will determine whether SAFU or other coverage mechanisms need to be used, as well as the final attribution of losses.

ABAB News · Law of cognition

  1. The difference between cumulative on-chain estimates and officially confirmed amounts is a common information layering in major exchange security incidents.

  2. Expanding freeze scope by stablecoin issuers is a main tool to restrict fund movements, but it does not mean the loss has been finally determined.