- Tether and Circle froze stablecoins linked to the suspected Binance hack.
- Binance founder Changpeng Zhao said the activity looks like a hack.
- Binance co-CEO Yi He said user funds are safe and thanked both issuers.
- Ether in the receiving wallet cannot be frozen the way stablecoins can.
Tether and Circle have frozen about $2.5 billion in stablecoins tied to a suspected Binance hack, after on-chain alerts late on Thursday, October 29, flagged billions of dollars in Binance outflows. Tether first froze about $971 million in USDT and later blocked roughly $700 million more, according to on-chain alerts, while Circle froze about $823 million in USDC. Binance founder and former CEO Changpeng Zhao wrote on X that the activity “does look like a hack,” and the exchange said it was investigating a potential security issue with no confirmed impact on user funds.
User funds are safe!
It does look like a hack on Binance. Appreciate the quick freeze from Tether (~$971m) and Circle (~$823m).
I don't manage Binance (.com) anymore, but as a shareholder, I expect all user funds will be fully covered. https://t.co/oufpyNChxI
— CZ
BNB (@cz_binance) October 29, 2026
BNB (@cz_binance) Binance Has Not Called It a Hack
Zhao, who no longer manages the exchange but remains a shareholder, said user funds are safe and that he expects all of them to be fully covered. Binance’s official account was more cautious, saying its security teams were reviewing the information and would share updates only through official channels, and warned users against unofficial links and requests for account details. Co-founder and co-CEO Yi He repeated that statement, said user funds are SAFU, a Binance phrase for safe, and thanked Tether and Circle for the quick freezes. Co-CEO Richard Teng had not commented at the time of writing.
We are aware of reports of a potential security issue and we are actively investigating.
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…— Yi He (@heyibinance) October 29, 2026
How a Stablecoin Freeze Works
Circle co-founder and CEO Jeremy Allaire confirmed on X that the company froze more than $800 million in USDC in coordination with law enforcement, describing the incident as a potential exploit involving Binance. Tether and Circle can blacklist any address through their token contracts, which stops the USDT or USDC held there from being moved, swapped or spent. The tokens are not returned automatically, though. The issuer usually keeps them locked until ownership is established, and then burns the frozen supply and reissues it to the rightful holder.
| Asset | Amount | Status |
|---|---|---|
| USDT | ~$1.67B | Frozen by Tether |
| USDC | ~$823M | Frozen by Circle |
| ETH in receiving wallet | ~$452M | Cannot be frozen |
Sources: Circle, Changpeng Zhao and Yi He on X, Etherscan.
The Ether Is Still Out of Reach
The receiving address, 0x5227f603C1eE34CE3C06eFe6477003BDfCCB2f8c, was funded by the labeled exchange wallets Binance 14 and Binance 16 and holds about 195,469 ETH worth roughly $452 million, according to Etherscan. Ether has no central issuer, so nobody can block it the way Tether and Circle blocked their tokens. Together with the frozen stablecoins, that brings the identified amount to nearly $3 billion, more than the $2.77 billion first reported, which suggests the early estimate did not capture every transfer.
The news hit a market already under pressure, and BNB led losses among the largest cryptocurrencies as the Binance hack rumor wiped out leveraged longs across the crypto market.
If Binance confirms a loss, its Secure Asset Fund for Users, an emergency reserve created in 2018 and funded from trading fees, is the most likely source of compensation. The exchange last used it in May 2019, when hackers stole 7,000 BTC from a hot wallet and Binance covered every affected account in full.
