Breaking: Has Binance been hacked for $2.77 billion?

• Was Binance likely hit by a $2.77 billion hack on Thursday?
• Transfers totalling $2.77 billion to unconfirmed wallets spanned five blockchains, according to on-chain data, with the funds originating from addresses labelled as Binance hot wallets.
• User funds remain safe, Binance founder and former CEO Changpeng Zhao maintained, although he said the exchange had likely been hacked.

Suspicions of a $2.77 billion hack at crypto exchange Binance emerged on Thursday after on-chain data revealed transfers from its hot wallets to unconfirmed addresses across five blockchain networks.

While maintaining that user funds are safe, Binance founder and former CEO Changpeng Zhao said in a post on X that a hack was likely. Following the transfers, stablecoin issuers Tether and Circle froze stablecoins worth $971 million and $873 million, respectively.

A similar statement appeared on Binance's official X account.

In its post, Binance wrote: "Our teams are aware of reports of a potential security issue and are actively investigating," adding: "Our security teams are reviewing all relevant information with urgency, and we will provide updates through official Binance channels as soon as we have verified information. Users should remain cautious of scams and should not trust unofficial links, messages, or requests for account information."

Selling pressure has gripped the crypto market following the update, pushing Bitcoin (BTC) below $80,000 and Ethereum (ETH) below $2,300. According to Coinglass data, the decline triggered roughly $600 million in liquidations within 1 hour.

(This is a developing story and will be updated as new information comes to light.)