Track market-moving stories before they get noisy

01.AI secures hundreds of millions of yuan in investment from Hangzhou state-owned capital, pivoting from training its own large models to helping enterprises monetize AI.

Beating AI Flash News: Founded by Kai-Fu Lee, 01.AI announced on October 28 a partnership with Hangzhou city and Linping District. State-owned assets from the city and district levels will invest a combined several hundred million yuan, with the company’s headquarters to be based in Linping, Hangzhou, and an industrial AI transformation base to be built. The two sides plan to carry out AI projects focusing on scenarios including enterprise operations, production management, and supply chains.
01.AI was once one of China’s "Big Model Six Tigers", entering the industry’s first tier early on with its self-developed Yi series models. However, in early 2025, the company adjusted its large model pre-training team and gradually withdrew from the large model arms race. In September this year, it officially ceased model API services for external users.
Currently, 01.AI mainly develops business decision-making and operation management systems for enterprises based on open-source models such as DeepSeek and Qianwen, and sends engineers to client sites for on-site deployment. Kai-Fu Lee previously disclosed that the company secured 500 million yuan in orders and 250 million yuan in audited revenue in 2025; its order volume exceeded 1.5 billion yuan in the first five months of 2026.
01.AI also plans to hold an IPO in Hong Kong in 2027. Previously, the company has established AI industrial base projects in Neijiang (Sichuan) and Wuhan, among other locations. Its setting up operations in Hangzhou will not only bring state-owned asset investment, but also enable it to connect with the actual business needs of local enterprises and find more clients for its AI products.

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USDC Treasury mints 250 million USDC on Solana

According to Whale Alert monitoring, the USDC Treasury minted 250 million USDC on the Solana blockchain, worth approximately $250,115,375.

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Whales Buy 1,900 $BTC ($148M) From Galaxy Digital Amid Market Drop

Despite the market drop, whales are still buying $BTC!
Over the past 4 hours, 9 newly created wallets received 1,900 $BTC ($148M) from #GalaxyDigital.

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Deribit: 134,000 Bitcoin options and 346,000 Ethereum options are set to expire.

According to Deribit data, 134,000 Bitcoin options and 346,000 Ethereum options are set to expire soon, with respective notional values of $10.48 billion and $750 million. The put-call ratio for Bitcoin options stands at 0.53, with a max pain point of $78,000. For Ethereum options, the put-call ratio is 0.73, and its max pain point is $2,400.

17 minutes ago

Bitcoin rebounds to break through $78,000

According to HTX market data, Bitcoin has rebounded to break through $78,000, currently trading at $78,003, with its 24-hour decline narrowed to 4.5%.

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Whales Buying the Dip on Bitcoin? 9 Newly Created Addresses Accumulate 1,900 BTC in Nearly Four Hours.

According to Lookonchain's monitoring, despite the market downturn, whales are still buying BTC. Over the past four hours, nine newly created wallets have received 1,900 BTC from Galaxy Digital, valued at roughly $148 million.

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Table of contents

Bitcoin slipped through $77,000 in the early hours of October 30 and kept sliding, settling near its lowest level in six weeks after the fallout from a record Binance hot-wallet hack forced the world’s largest exchange to close its on-chain doors in both directions. The leading cryptocurrency traded near $76,600 on Binance, down roughly 4% over 24 hours, after the exchange said it was suspending all deposits and withdrawals while it froze funds, coordinated with law enforcement, and pledged to cover every dollar lost.

The slide came hours after an attacker drained Binance 14, one of the exchange’s most active Ethereum hot wallets, of about $2.5 billion in a single transaction — a figure that has since climbed as security firms and the exchange itself tallied the damage. Ethereum, Solana, and Binance’s own BNB token all fell harder than Bitcoin, a sign the fear was broad rather than Bitcoin-specific.

We are working non-stop to resolve this issue. Binance will cover all losses. As a precaution, all deposits and withdrawals are temporarily suspended while our team conducts security checks, freezes funds, and works with law enforcement.

— Binance (@binance) October 30, 2026

A Full Freeze, Not a PauseThe statement above, posted at 00:13 UTC, marked a sharp escalation from the cautious tone Binance struck in its first public comment. That earlier message said only that the exchange was “aware of reports of a possible security issue” and had “not confirmed that user funds have been affected.” Within minutes the company had hardened the line to “user funds are completely safe,” and by the early morning it was freezing the entire platform.

Binance paused withdrawals on multiple networks at 22:15 UTC on October 29, then suspended deposits and Binance Alpha trading over the following hours. The full freeze, announced in the post above, came with the exchange’s first official tally: $2.54 billion in assets frozen, “and this figure may continue to increase.” By the morning of October 30 the verified frozen total had risen to $3 billion, according to updates the company posted on its official account.

Co-founder Changpeng Zhao, who no longer runs the company but remains its largest shareholder, put the outcome in plainer terms. “User funds are safe! It does look like a hack on Binance,” Zhao wrote on X, thanking Tether and Circle for freezing roughly $971 million and $823 million respectively. Asked about a loss estimate that ran to about $1 billion after the freezes, he replied: “Loss might be a bit higher than that, but will cover.”

The Delegation That Emptied Binance 14The on-chain trail is what turned a routine-looking wallet shuffle into a full-blown incident. At 20:24 UTC on October 29, Binance 14 sent 167,464 ETH — worth about $388 million — plus 63 other tokens, including roughly $1.6 billion in Tether (USDT), to an address that had not existed before that evening. Twenty-four seconds later a second wallet, Binance 16, moved another 28,005 ETH to the same destination. BlockchainReporter’s earlier report on the outflow walks through the full sequence.

Security firm Blockaid traced the mechanism to EIP-7702, an Ethereum feature that lets an ordinary wallet temporarily hand control to a smart contract. At 20:20:59 UTC a wallet funded only through the Tornado Cash mixer installed a signed delegation on Binance 14, and four minutes later the attacker’s contract swept the wallet clean in a single call. Setting that delegation requires a signature from Binance 14’s own key, which is why investigators describe the event as a key compromise rather than a protocol bug.

Tether and Circle moved quickly to cap the damage. Tether froze $975 million in USDT in the main collection address, a figure CEO Paolo Ardoino later put above $1.5 billion, while Circle froze $823 million in USDC. “Circle is closely tracking reports of a potential exploit involving Binance,” CEO Jeremy Allaire wrote on X. “In coordination with law enforcement, we have frozen more than 800M USDC associated with the incident and will continue supporting the investigation.”

Fear Drove the Slide, Not Forced SellingThe market’s reaction was fast and lopsided. Bitcoin fell about 4% over 24 hours to trade near $76,600, according to Binance market data, after trading as high as $81,971 earlier in the session. Ether dropped 5.2% to near $2,195, Solana shed 5.9% to about $94, and BNB — the token of the exchange at the center of the story — lost 5.6% to near $704.

The scale of the numbers helps explain why this was a sentiment event rather than forced liquidation. Bitcoin’s market capitalization, roughly $1.5 trillion, dwarfs even the $2.5 billion to $3 billion in stolen funds — the drain represents about 0.2% of the network’s value. A theft that size does not mechanically move the price. It moved the market because it renewed a very old fear: that the largest venue in crypto can be breached, and that no custodian is fully safe.

The six-week low is real, not rhetorical. Bitcoin’s intraday low near $76,650 is its lowest print since September 18, when it briefly touched $76,296. The token has now surrendered a seven-day gain and is down about 5.5% over the past week, closing a stretch in which it had held above $80,000 for most of late October.

The Levels Traders Are WatchingBitcoin is now trading well below its 24-hour volume-weighted average price near $79,380 and its seven-day simple moving average near $79,750, a sign the move lower is broad-based rather than a thin-book wick. The first support zone sits at the October 30 low of $76,650, with the September 18 floor of $76,296 as the next line beneath it. A daily close below $76,300 would open the door to the mid-September range and mark the first clean break of the past six weeks.

On the upside, $78,000 is the first level the market has to reclaim. It acted as support through late October before the freeze, so it now reads as overhead supply. Above that, the 24-hour high of $81,971 and the $80,035 level where the 24-hour session opened are the resistance points that would need to fall for the trend to turn convincingly. These levels are derived from Binance’s public price feed for the trailing 24 hours and the daily candles of the past six weeks, not from a forecast model.

What the Selloff Does Not ProveThe decline coincided with the Binance freeze, but a coincidence is not a proven cause. Spot selling, leveraged liquidations, and a broader risk-off mood can all press a market lower at the same time, and available data does not isolate how much of the drop was Binance-specific versus a general flight from risk. The token’s harder fall relative to Bitcoin is the strongest evidence that the exchange itself was the catalyst, but it is still circumstantial.

The freeze also arrived hours after a separate incident at Polymarket, which paused trading after a third-party vendor breach. Two exchange-side security events landing within a single evening compressed the market’s mood, and both are still being investigated. Binance has not published a technical post-mortem, and the final loss figure is not settled while freezes and recoveries are still being tallied.

What to Watch NextThe next concrete signal is Binance’s proof-of-reserves snapshot, due November 1. It will show whether the exchange has backfilled the drained hot wallets from its cold reserves and how much of the $2.54 billion to $3 billion in frozen assets can be recovered. A second signal is the resumption of withdrawals: Binance has said it will reopen them “as soon as the security issue is fully resolved,” without a timeline, and any delay beyond a few days would itself become a story about counterparty risk.

The Arbitrum Security Council has already executed an emergency freeze of $30.5 million tied to the exploit, involving 74.6 million ARB and 8,425 ETH, and moved the funds to an intermediary wallet controlled by governance. Other chains and issuers may follow as investigators map the roughly 20 wallets the attacker has used to spread the proceeds. Until Binance releases its post-mortem, the safest framing is what the exchange itself has said: user funds are safe, all losses will be covered, and the investigation is ongoing.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is my money safe on Binance?Binance has said user funds are safe and that it will cover all losses, and co-founder Changpeng Zhao said he expects all user funds to be fully covered. Withdrawals remain temporarily suspended while the exchange completes security checks.

How much was stolen in the Binance hack?The first transaction drained about $2.5 billion, and Binance has confirmed $2.54 billion frozen, later rising to $3 billion. Security firm Blockaid tallied roughly $5.5 billion across Ethereum, Bitcoin, Tron, and other chains, which would make it the largest crypto theft on record.

Why did Bitcoin fall below $77,000?Bitcoin dropped about 4% in 24 hours to a six-week low as the Binance hot-wallet hack and the full suspension of deposits and withdrawals shook confidence across crypto. Ether, Solana, and BNB fell even harder.

When will Binance withdrawals resume?Binance has not given a timeline, saying only that withdrawals will resume once the security issue is fully resolved. The company has promised a full post-mortem when its investigation is complete.

Disclosure: This article does not represent investment advice. The content and materials featured on this page are for educational purposes only.

01.AI secures hundreds of millions of yuan in investment from Hangzhou state-owned capital, pivoting from training its own large models to helping enterprises monetize AI.

Beating AI Flash News: Founded by Kai-Fu Lee, 01.AI announced on October 28 a partnership with Hangzhou city and Linping District. State-owned assets from the city and district levels will invest a combined several hundred million yuan, with the company’s headquarters to be based in Linping, Hangzhou, and an industrial AI transformation base to be built. The two sides plan to carry out AI projects focusing on scenarios including enterprise operations, production management, and supply chains. 01.AI was once one of China’s "Big Model Six Tigers", entering the industry’s first tier early on with its self-developed Yi series models. However, in early 2025, the company adjusted its large model pre-training team and gradually withdrew from the large model arms race. In September this year, it officially ceased model API services for external users. Currently, 01.AI mainly develops business decision-making and operation management systems for enterprises based on open-source models such as DeepSeek and Qianwen, and sends engineers to client sites for on-site deployment. Kai-Fu Lee previously disclosed that the company secured 500 million yuan in orders and 250 million yuan in audited revenue in 2025; its order volume exceeded 1.5 billion yuan in the first five months of 2026. 01.AI also plans to hold an IPO in Hong Kong in 2027. Previously, the company has established AI industrial base projects in Neijiang (Sichuan) and Wuhan, among other locations. Its setting up operations in Hangzhou will not only bring state-owned asset investment, but also enable it to connect with the actual business needs of local enterprises and find more clients for its AI products.

17 minutes ago

USDC Treasury mints 250 million USDC on Solana

According to Whale Alert monitoring, the USDC Treasury minted 250 million USDC on the Solana blockchain, worth approximately $250,115,375.

17 minutes ago

Whales Buy 1,900 $BTC ($148M) From Galaxy Digital Amid Market Drop

Despite the market drop, whales are still buying $BTC! Over the past 4 hours, 9 newly created wallets received 1,900 $BTC ($148M) from #GalaxyDigital.

17 minutes ago

Bitcoin rebounds to break through $78,000

According to HTX market data, Bitcoin has rebounded to break through $78,000, currently trading at $78,003, with its 24-hour decline narrowed to 4.5%.

17 minutes ago

Whales Buying the Dip on Bitcoin? 9 Newly Created Addresses Accumulate 1,900 BTC in Nearly Four Hours.

According to Lookonchain's monitoring, despite the market downturn, whales are still buying BTC. Over the past four hours, nine newly created wallets have received 1,900 BTC from Galaxy Digital, valued at roughly $148 million.

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Following the hacker’s sell-off, seven altcoins have rallied, with two whales buying the dip in ENA and PEPE during the same period.

According to TradingBeats monitoring, as of press time, all tokens involved in the Binance hacker sell-off—UNI, ENA, PEPE, LINK, AAVE, ONDO, and WLD—have rebounded from their lows during this morning’s sell-off. PEPE has rallied roughly 12%, while ENA is up around 10%. After 9 AM this morning, two whales opened long positions worth approximately $3.09 million in PEPE and $4.01 million in ENA on Hyperliquid, totaling $7.1 million. They currently hold an unrealized profit of around $250,000 (wallet addresses: 0xb122, 0xedc0). Over the same period, PEPE’s nominal open interest (OI) rose roughly 23%, while ENA’s OI edged down about 1%. UNI has rebounded roughly 7%, with its nominal OI increasing by around 7%. Two accounts that opened short positions around 6 AM this morning still hold a combined short position worth approximately $2.83 million, currently facing an unrealized loss of about $90,000 (wallet addresses: 0x60a8, 0x2de3). For the remaining four tokens: AAVE rallied roughly 7% with nominal OI up ~1%; LINK gained ~5% with OI down ~4%; ONDO rose ~6% with OI down ~6%; WLD rallied ~7% with OI down ~13%.

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Expand's production slightly exceeded expectations in Q3 2026, and it maintained its guidance midpoint for full-year 2026 production. It is dealing with weaker natural gas strip prices but is around 67% hedged on natural gas in Q4 2026 and 55% hedged in 2027. Expand also expects increased marketing and commercial income going forward after integrating its Twin Eagle acquisition.

Binance Hack Drives Bitcoin Below $77,000, Ethereum, XRP, Dogecoin Also in the Red: Top Analyst Identifies Where to Buy the 'Dip' in the ‘Bloodbath' (UPDATED)

Cardano’s Midnight protocol has introduced the Sig Network, aiming to address key migration challenges for users moving assets between Ethereum and Midnight. This new system is designed to improve efficiency and security by simplifying how transfers are validated and processed.

Sig Network introduces streamlined migration mechanismThe Sig Network functions through a three-step process that begins with a compact circuit validating the user’s request. After confirming the request, the user’s shielded claim is burnt and a single Ethereum transaction is queued. This reduces friction during the migration phase and aims to prevent unnecessary delays or complications.

Next, a group of independent chain signers collectively generates an Ethereum Layer-1 signature after a certain threshold is reached. This multi-signature approach adds a security layer and dispenses with the need for asset bridging or wrapping, potentially lowering transaction costs for users.

Finally, the transaction is executed from the contract account, with the results then confirmed back to the Midnight platform. This allows for the direct update of user balances without shifting assets through intermediate platforms.

Mini dictionary: Sig Network is an infrastructure layer on Midnight, a privacy-centric blockchain protocol in the Cardano ecosystem, developed to facilitate efficient and secure migration of assets between different networks, particularly Ethereum and Midnight, without requiring asset bridging or wrapping.

Midnight’s NIGHT token performance and Cardano founder’s perspectiveAs the Sig Network goes live, Midnight’s native NIGHT token recorded a 3.3% daily decline, placing its market capitalization at $646,858,207. Despite this drop, the token remains within the top 100 digital assets by market cap.

Meanwhile, Cardano’s ADA price continues to face a pivotal moment. Bulls are working to defend essential support levels, while traders are actively debating whether a recovery is likely in the near term.

Token24h Price ChangeMarket CapitalizationNIGHT-3.3%$646,858,207ADAN/A (contextual data)Top digital asset, specific value not providedCardano’s founder, Charles Hoskinson, has emphasized the significance of private and secure connections between blockchains. He argues that privacy solutions like those provided by Midnight are essential as digital asset transactions continue to expand, highlighting privacy as a central concern for users and regulatory stakeholders alike.

Cardano’s founder has stressed that robust privacy features are crucial for secure and scalable blockchain interoperability, especially as more assets and users bridge across networks.

Midnight’s integration of the Sig Network appears positioned to improve the migration experience and could offer greater efficiency and lower transaction costs for users operating between Ethereum and privacy-oriented protocols.

Binance said Friday that a security incident had an estimated impact of $6.3 billion, with around $3 billion in cryptocurrency assets frozen so far, and pledged to cover all losses.

The world's largest crypto exchange said an initial investigation suggests "the security incident may involve a compromised DevOps engineer's laptop, which allowed an attacker to gain access to a service container and submit unauthorized withdrawal transactions."

The exchange said it would cover all losses using its Secure Asset Fund for Users and company funds, adding that customer funds remained safe.

Binance also temporarily suspended deposits and withdrawals, revoked the affected address authorization and enlisted law enforcement and blockchain intelligence firms to trace and recover funds.

The company said it would publish a technical report, and an updated Proof of Reserves after remediation efforts.

"We have found no evidence of any wallet private key leak. We will share a detailed technical post-mortem once the investigation is complete and the facts are fully verified," Binance said.

The announcement followed moves by several crypto firms, including Circle Internet Group, Tether and Ripple, to freeze funds tied to the hack.

Bitcoin fell more than 4% to $77,994.96 on Friday as the hack weighed on crypto markets. Shares of Circle tumbled about 5% in after-hours trading on Thursday.

"Our teams are aware of reports of a potential security issue and are actively investigating," a Binance spokesperson said. "Rest assured that user funds are completely safe." Binance also said on X that Binance Alpha trading had been temporarily suspended, and that "the current verified total frozen is $2.54 billion."

Circle CEO Jeremy Allaire said Thursday evening in a social media post that the company had frozen more than 800 million in USD Coin associated with the incident. USDT stablecoin issuer Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino also said in on X that his firm had frozen more than 1.5 billion of its stablecoin that may have been related to a potential breach.

Jack McDonald, Ripple's senior vice president of stablecoins, said it was actively freezing affected funds held in RLUSD, its U.S. dollar-backed stablecoin. 

Later, Binance co-founder Yi He said in a statement that the XRP and RLUSD-tied firm Ripple helped halt the movement of $200 million of funds linked to the possible attack.

But those frozen funds could represent only part of those impacted. Crypto data provider Arkham Intelligence linked nearly $6 billion in digital assets — including bitcoin, ether, solana and various stablecoins — to 55 wallet addresses it has linked to the potential exploit.

Arkham identifies, tracks and flags crypto wallets by analyzing publicly available blockchain data. It also solicits tips from its community members.

Exploits are not uncommon in the crypto space. In 2025, Bybit suffered roughly $1.5 billion in losses due to a hack. More recently, Bitget lost more than $350 million worth of digital assets in a cyber theft incident. Over the past several years, bad actors have also drained billions of dollars in crypto from decentralized exchanges.

BLOOMBERG: Binance Investigates Possible Hack as Tether and Circle Freeze $2.3 Billion and Bitcoin Falls

At least $5.57 billion in cryptocurrencies rapidly exited wallets linked to Binance on Thursday, with the exchange confirming it is investigating reports of a potential security incident affecting three major blockchains: Ethereum, Bitcoin, and Tron.

Major outflows and security responseOn-chain data shows $3.51 billion left the Ethereum network, $1.44 billion in 18,270 Bitcoin, and another $630 million on Tron. The movement reportedly began with a large Ethereum transaction of 167,464 ETH and 63 notable token transfers—amounting to $1.615 billion USDT—sent to a new address at 20:24 UTC, as tracked by Etherscan.

Binance, recognized as the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange by trading volume and user count, confirmed its security teams are investigating. The exchange has yet to confirm any direct impact on client funds or provide full details on the incident’s nature.

Our security teams are urgently reviewing all relevant information regarding a potential security issue and will provide updates through official Binance channels once there is verified information, the company posted on X.

Binance hot wallets—cryptocurrency wallets connected to the internet to facilitate customer deposits and withdrawals—were at the center of the suspicious activity. Historical context shows the exchange previously suffered a $40 million loss in a 2019 hack involving 7,000 Bitcoin. If verified, the latest incident would be more than triple the $1.5 billion Bybit hack recorded in February 2025, setting a new industry record.

Exchange/EventYearAmountBinance (current alleged incident)2026$5.57 billionBybit hack2025$1.5 billionBinance hack2019$40 millionHow the exploit unfoldedThe suspicious Ethereum transaction was preceded by a delegation submitted using EIP-7702, a feature allowing a standard Ethereum wallet to execute smart contract code. This delegation, linked to Tornado Cash—an anonymizing crypto mixer—enabled persistent authorization of later transactions without further signatures.

Odysseas Lamtzidi, founder of blockchain security firm Phylax Systems, explained that EIP-7702 allows delegated code to persist in a wallet, permitting transfers without additional signatures. The critical technique raises concerns about how the attacker obtained the necessary signature.

Mini dictionary: EIP-7702 is an Ethereum feature that allows standard wallets to temporarily act like smart contracts, enabling them to delegate the authority to execute code, which can persist and trigger future transfers without new signatures.

7702 lets a normal wallet execute delegated code. The delegation persists; that code can authorize later transfers without another signature from the wallet, wrote Lamtzidi on X regarding the technical process.

Frozen assets and market reactionIn response to the outflow, leading stablecoin issuers Tether and Circle acted swiftly to freeze assets at the main receiving wallet. Tether locked 975.1 million USDT, while Circle, which operates the USDC stablecoin, froze another 823 million USDC by 21:04 UTC, bringing the total frozen to approximately $1.8 billion.

Circle CEO Jeremy Allaire confirmed on X that the company is actively monitoring the situation in coordination with law enforcement, supporting the ongoing investigation.

Both Tether and Circle possess the technical ability to block specific addresses, preventing the movement of their tokens when such incidents occur. Despite these interventions, the attacker continued to move funds rapidly, and the full scope of the breach is still under review.

The market reaction was immediate; Bitcoin dipped below $79,000, BNB fell roughly 7%, while privacy coin Monero rose approximately 6% in volatile trading following news of the incident.

The digital currency exchange Binance says it was the target of a $6.3 billion crypto heist Thursday, believed to be the largest ever recorded.

The company has suspended all deposits and withdrawals while it works with law enforcement to secure its infrastructure and locate stolen funds.

The hack originated from a compromised laptop, it said, which allowed “an attacker to gain access to a service container and submit unauthorized withdrawal transactions.”

“The estimated total impact sits at around $6.3B,” Binance said late Thursday on X.

About $3 billion of crypto assets that transited through wallets connected to the hackers have so far been identified and frozen, the company said.

Binance will “cover all losses” from the hack, it said, adding, “User funds are safe.”

“We are working closely with our law enforcement partners to confirm the identity of these criminals and bring them to justice,” it said.

Binance is the world’s largest cryptocurrency trading platform by volume, with hundreds of thousands of users who buy, sell and store billions of dollars’ worth of digital currencies on the exchange.

Unlike traditional bank deposits, funds kept in accounts with companies like Binance are not automatically insured against losses, potentially leaving any refunds up to the discretion of individual exchanges.

The previous record for a crypto heist was $1.5 billion that hackers from North Korea stole from Bybit in February 2025.

Binance cautioned that the full value of assets affected by the hack, as well as assets recovered or frozen, could change.

“This figure may continue to increase as our teams work closely with law enforcement, issuers, blockchain intelligence firms and industry partners to trace and freeze additional assets,” it said.

As word of the hack spread online Thursday, major cryptocurrencies traded lower. Bitcoin was down about 4.3%, while Ethereum lost 4.6% of its value.

Two major stablecoin issuers, Tether and Circle, said they had identified billions of dollars in assets connected to the hackers and had frozen them.

Tether froze more than $1.567 billion worth of its digital currency, CEO Paolo Ardoino said on X.

Jeremy Allaire, CEO of stablecoin issuer Circle, said the company had also frozen hundreds of millions of dollars of assets and was coordinating with law enforcement.

The massive breach of Binance occurs at a moment when cybersecurity defenses around the world are on high alert about the possibility of novel attacks facilitated by recent advances in artificial intelligence.

Digital currency has been a primary target of hackers for years. In 2025, Coinbase disclosed that thieves had stolen customers’ personal information and tried to extort the company for $20 million. Coinbase refused to pay and offered a bounty for information leading to arrests, instead.

Binance’s founder, Changpeng Zhao, said, “As a shareholder, I expect all user funds will be fully covered.”

Zhao stepped down as the CEO of Binance in 2023 and pleaded guilty to breaking U.S. anti-money-laundering laws. President Donald Trump later granted him a full pardon.

Bitcoin dropped below $79,000 on Thursday as reports of a suspected multibillion-dollar hack at Binance, the world’s largest crypto exchange, rippled through markets. 

The selloff followed reports of heavy outflows from Binance-linked wallets. Some social media reports cited suspicious outflows of up to $5.8 billion, citing onchain data that shows about $3.55 billion in incoming transfers to an unlabeled wallet. 

Conor Grogan, a senior director at Coinbase, put the figure at $5.8 billion.

Stablecoin issuers moved to freeze funds. Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino said the company froze more than 1.567 billion USDT. Circle froze about $823 million in USDC, according to former Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao, who remains a shareholder. 

Combined freezes range from $1.8 billion to $2.4 billion depending on reports. “Protecting the industry and our partners is our main priority,” Ardoino said.

Binance has made no official confirmation of a breach. Co-founder Yi He wrote on X that the company is aware of reports of a potential security issue and that its security teams are reviewing all relevant information. 

“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 remain cautious of scams and should not trust unofficial links, messages, or requests for account information.”

Zhao wrote that, in his view, the exchange appears to have been hacked, and he expects all user funds to be covered.

“I don’t manage Binance anymore, but as a shareholder, I expect all user funds will be fully covered,” Zhao posted.

Blockchain researcher Spreek flagged the activity, which reportedly included a transfer through a contract call allegedly funded by Tornado Cash. Blockaid said it is investigating $3.3 billion in suspicious outflows from Binance hot wallets across Ethereum, Arbitrum and Avalanche.

If confirmed, the incident would be the largest crypto theft on record, surpassing the February 2025 Bybit hack of roughly $1.5 billion. Aave reportedly froze lending markets to block the suspected attacker from borrowing. 

Binance.US said the incident does not affect its platform.

Figures remain fluid. One estimate puts the realized loss near 0.7% of Binance customer assets, and other reports continue to revise totals. Neither Binance nor law enforcement has released a formal account of the cause.

Crypto exchange Bybit was not affected. They tweeted that their “systems are operating normally, trading and withdrawals remain available, and user assets remain secure.”

Bitcoin price drops under $79,000 after Binance hack jitters Bitcoin is trading at $78,800, down 2.89% (about $2,350) over the past 24 hours. The price hit a 24-hour high of $81,890 around midday before sliding sharply after 4 p.m. ET, when it fell to a low of $78,177.37, after rumors of the hack circulated. 

Trading volume over the period was about $26.14 billion, and bitcoin’s market cap stands at roughly $1.58 trillion.

Micah Zimmerman

Micah first discovered Bitcoin in 2018 but remained a skeptic on the sidelines for too long. Since 2021, he has covered crypto and business and now works as a news reporter for Bitcoin Magazine, based in North Carolina.

1h35 ▪ 6 min read ▪ by Fenelon L.

Summarize this article with:

A simple on-chain signal was enough to turn the evening of October 29 upside down. At 10:32 pm, researcher Spreek detects an anomaly on Ethereum. Four minutes earlier, a contract had just emptied a Binance wallet of 167,464 ETH. In a few hours, several stablecoin issuers froze 2.54 billion dollars, while the exchange confirmed one of the biggest hacks in crypto history.

In brief A Binance wallet lost 167,464 ETH and 63 tokens after an EIP-7702 delegation installed four minutes earlier. Tether, Circle, Ripple, World Liberty Financial and Aave blocked funds for a verified total of 2.54 billion dollars. Arkham Intelligence tracks about 5.84 billion dollars that passed through wallets linked to the incident, while the origin of the signature remains unknown. An attack prepared well before the transfer The Ledger, Coldcard and Keystone incidents had already weakened trust in crypto wallets. This time, the scenario differs: the attack is not targeting a cold wallet.

It all starts on October 28. An address, 0x7C86, receives 0.1 ETH from Tornado Cash, a mixer used to blur fund traceability. This small amount suffices to cover transaction fees.

The next afternoon, this same address deploys its own contract.

At 10:20:59 pm, a transaction links the Binance wallet 14 to this contract via EIP-7702, a mechanism allowing a wallet controlled by a key to execute contract code.

Then everything speeds up.

At 10:24:23 pm, a transaction withdraws 167,464 ETH, about 388 million dollars according to Etherscan, as well as 63 tokens, including 1.615 billion dollars of USDT.

Twenty-four seconds later, Binance 16 sends another 28,005 ETH to this same previously nonexistent address.

In less than fifteen minutes, 195,460 ETH, nearly 450 million dollars, move to a freshly created third address, while about 1.5 billion dollars in tokens remain in the first wallet.

In total, Arkham Intelligence estimates about 5.84 billion dollars passed through the wallets linked to the incident. This amount includes various movements between addresses and therefore does not correspond solely to stolen assets.

Spreek’s alert changes everything The first warning comes from neither Binance nor a regulator.

At 10:32 pm, the pseudonymous on-chain researcher Spreek posts a message on X: “Unconfirmed, but possibly massive Binance hack. Entire Binance wallet drained into new EOA. Contract call was funded by Tornado Cash.“

His intuition is based on a revealing detail. An exchange never funds its transaction fees through Tornado Cash. For him, this behavior immediately distinguishes a hack from a maintenance operation.

Five minutes later, he strengthens his analysis. The address that triggered the transaction indeed comes from Tornado Cash, while the recipient wallet now links to movements related to Binance.

Alerts follow quickly. At 10:41 pm, Tree News discusses a possible theft affecting hot wallets. Two minutes later, another account already estimates Ethereum losses at over 2.5 billion dollars.

Odysseas Lamtzidis, founder of Phylax Systems, explains the mechanism: according to him, EIP-7702 can turn the wallet itself into a “vacuum” as soon as a signed delegation comes into play. Another developer also notices that the contract only accepts calls coming from the address funded by Tornado Cash.

Issuers react in a few hours Faced with the scale of the incident, key sector players intervene quickly.

Tether freezes 975.1 million USDT. At 11:04 pm, Circle blocks 823 million USDC, a decision confirmed by its CEO Jeremy Allaire on X, in coordination with law enforcement.

Then, at 12:32 am, Aave temporarily suspends its v3 and v4 lending markets after a wallet linked to the hack deposited 60 million USDT there before borrowing 19,762 ETH.

Four minutes later, World Liberty Financial immobilizes 27 million USD1 and 2 million WLFI with the help of BitGo.

Finally, at 1:35 am, Binance revises its count upward and announces 2.54 billion dollars frozen, against 1.8 billion mentioned earlier. Shortly after, Ripple confirms blocking RLUSD, without revealing the amount concerned.

An investigation still far from over Arkham Intelligence now tracks about 5.84 billion dollars that circulated between wallets associated with the incident, although other estimates are closer to 2.4 billion.

Compared to the 693,000 bitcoins held by Binance in September, this drain represents about 2.64% of the platform’s reserves. Therefore, it is a compromised wallet, not a collapse of the entire exchange.

Markets reacted immediately: bitcoin fell below 79,000 dollars (-2.6% in 24 hours), BNB dropped 7% to 699 dollars, while Monero rose 6%.

The previous record dated back to the Bybit hack, estimated at 1.5 billion dollars in February 2025. This time, one question remains: how did the attacker obtain the signature necessary to activate the EIP-7702 delegation? Binance has not yet responded, and the investigation will have to determine whether it is a signature flaw, an operational error, or deeper system access.

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Fenelon L.

Passionné par le Bitcoin, j'aime explorer les méandres de la blockchain et des cryptos et je partage mes découvertes avec la communauté. Mon rêve est de vivre dans un monde où la vie privée et la liberté financière sont garanties pour tous, et je crois fermement que Bitcoin est l'outil qui peut rendre cela possible.

OneSpan Inc. (OSPN) Q3 2026 Earnings Call October 29, 2026 4:30 PM EDT

Company Participants

Joe Maxa - Vice President of Investor Relations
Victor Limongelli - CEO & President
Jorge Martell - CFO & Treasurer

Conference Call Participants

Erik Suppiger - B. Riley Securities, Inc., Research Division
Gray Powell - BTIG, LLC, Research Division
Rudy Kessinger - D.A. Davidson & Co., Research Division
Anja Soderstrom - Sidoti & Company, LLC
Catharine Trebnick - Rosenblatt Securities Inc., Research Division

Presentation

Operator

Good day, everyone. Welcome to the OneSpan Quarter 3 2026 Earnings Call.

[Operator Instructions] This call is being recorded. If you have any objections, please disconnect at this time.

I would now like to turn the call over to Joe Maxa, Vice President of Investor Relations. Please go ahead.

Joe Maxa
Vice President of Investor Relations

Thank you, operator. Hello, everyone. Thank you for joining the OneSpan Third Quarter 2026 Earnings Conference Call.

This call is being webcast and can be accessed on the Investor Relations section of OneSpan's website at investors.onespan.com.

Joining me on the call today is Victor Limongelli, our Chief Executive Officer; and Jorge Martell, our Chief Financial Officer. This afternoon, after market close, OneSpan issued a press release announcing results for our third quarter of 2026. To access a copy of the press release and other investor information, please visit our website. Following our prepared comments today, we will open the call for questions.

Please note that statements made during this conference call that relate to future plans, events or performance, including the outlook for full year 2026 and other long-term financial targets are forward-looking statements. These statements involve risks and uncertainties and are based on current assumptions.

Consequently, actual results could differ materially from the expectations expressed in these forward-looking statements. I direct your attention to today's press release and the

Sandisk Corporation (SNDK) Q1 2027 Earnings Call October 29, 2026 4:30 PM EDT

Company Participants

Ivan Donaldson - Vice President of Investor Relations
David V. Goeckeler - Chairman & CEO
Luis Visoso - Executive VP & CFO

Conference Call Participants

Benjamin Reitzes - Melius Research LLC
Joseph Moore - Morgan Stanley, Research Division
Mark Newman - Bernstein Institutional Services LLC, Research Division
David Gibson - MST Financial Services Pty Limited, Research Division
Christopher Muse - Cantor Fitzgerald & Co., Research Division
Karl Ackerman - BNP Paribas, Research Division
Vijay Rakesh - Mizuho Securities USA LLC, Research Division
James Schneider - Goldman Sachs Group, Inc., Research Division
Wamsi Mohan - BofA Securities, Research Division
Amit Daryanani - Evercore ISI Institutional Equities, Research Division
Mehdi Hosseini - Susquehanna Financial Group, LLLP, Research Division

Presentation

Operator

Good afternoon, and welcome to Sandisk's First Quarter Fiscal Year 2027 Earnings Conference Call. [Operator Instructions] Please also note, today's event is being recorded.

At this time, I'd like to turn the floor over to Ivan Donaldson, Vice President of Investor Relations. Please go ahead.

Ivan Donaldson
Vice President of Investor Relations

Before we begin, please note that today's discussion will contain forward-looking statements based on management's current assumptions and expectations, which are subject to various risks and uncertainties. These forward-looking statements include expectations for our technology and product portfolio, our business plans and performance, our capital allocation priorities, market trends and opportunities and our financial results. We assume no obligation to update these statements. Please refer to our annual report on Form 10-K and our other filings with the SEC for more information on the risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from expectations.

We will also make references to non-GAAP financial measures today. Reconciliations between the non-GAAP and comparable GAAP financial measures are included in the written materials posted in the Investor

HTX has ended its UK crypto services after reaching a court-backed settlement with the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA). The agreement bars the exchange from unlawfully promoting crypto products to British consumers, ending a dispute that began in 2025.

FCA Secures High Court Agreement With HTX The FCA announced on Thursday that Huobi Global S.A., the company behind HTX, had agreed to restrictions through the High Court. The exchange must not knowingly promote cryptoasset services unlawfully through its website, applications or social media.

Proceedings were brought by the regulator in October 2025, due to its finding that HTX had advertised crypto services without complying with financial promotion regulations in Britain. The regulations came into effect in October 2023, and also cover cryptocurrency firms outside Britain. In 2023, the FCA had previously sounded the alarm at HTX and indicated that it had repeatedly tried to engage with the exchange.

When targeting UK consumers, overseas operators are still subject to UK law, said Steve Smart, FCA’s enforcement director. He warned other firms to “follow the rules or face the consequences.” The settlement terms are confidential, and the FCA stated that the agreement is not an admission of wrongdoing.

UK Customers Lose Access as HTX Withdraws The settlement follows steps HTX took to withdraw from Britain after the lawsuit began. No new customers are allowed to register, and no existing ones can add money to their accounts.

The FCA urged customers to visit HTX’s site for details on withdrawing any assets remaining on the platform. It also confirmed that the exchange would stop targeting, soliciting or actively seeking business from British consumers.

Citing the UK financial promotion rules, HTX announced that it has taken steps to meet it and will continue to do so globally. The British exit follows the addition of Russia to the list of restricted jurisdictions by HTX in October. The change comes after similar access limitations by Bitget and MEXC.

UK Tightens Oversight of Overseas Crypto Exchanges The case is the FCA’s first against a crypto exchange for illegal financial promotion to British consumers. In February, the regulator also sought restrictions on HTX accounts across social media platforms and mobile app stores.

The settlement comes alongside the UK’s intention to broaden its crypto licensing framework beyond those of current marketing and anti-money-laundering rules. As we previously reported, firms are facing a new authorization process ahead of crypto rules taking effect in October 2027.

The FCA announced that applications opened on 30th September 2026 and firms are expected to apply by 28th February 2027. The proposed framework establishes a wider set of principles for eligible operators, including the principles of customer protection, asset management, and financial strength.

Subsequently, the HTX settlement also sets enforceable caps on the exchange’s promotions in the UK. Until then, existing rules still govern crypto advertising and anti-money-laundering compliance.

Investment disclaimer: The content reflects the author’s personal views and current market conditions. Please conduct your own research before investing in cryptocurrencies, as neither the author nor the publication is responsible for any financial losses.

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01.AI secures hundreds of millions of yuan in investment from Hangzhou state-owned capital, pivoting from training its own large models to helping enterprises monetize AI.

Beating AI Flash News: Founded by Kai-Fu Lee, 01.AI announced on October 28 a partnership with Hangzhou city and Linping District. State-owned assets from the city and district levels will invest a combined several hundred million yuan, with the company’s headquarters to be based in Linping, Hangzhou, and an industrial AI transformation base to be built. The two sides plan to carry out AI projects focusing on scenarios including enterprise operations, production management, and supply chains. 01.AI was once one of China’s "Big Model Six Tigers", entering the industry’s first tier early on with its self-developed Yi series models. However, in early 2025, the company adjusted its large model pre-training team and gradually withdrew from the large model arms race. In September this year, it officially ceased model API services for external users. Currently, 01.AI mainly develops business decision-making and operation management systems for enterprises based on open-source models such as DeepSeek and Qianwen, and sends engineers to client sites for on-site deployment. Kai-Fu Lee previously disclosed that the company secured 500 million yuan in orders and 250 million yuan in audited revenue in 2025; its order volume exceeded 1.5 billion yuan in the first five months of 2026. 01.AI also plans to hold an IPO in Hong Kong in 2027. Previously, the company has established AI industrial base projects in Neijiang (Sichuan) and Wuhan, among other locations. Its setting up operations in Hangzhou will not only bring state-owned asset investment, but also enable it to connect with the actual business needs of local enterprises and find more clients for its AI products.

2 minutes ago

USDC Treasury mints 250 million USDC on Solana

According to Whale Alert monitoring, the USDC Treasury minted 250 million USDC on the Solana blockchain, worth approximately $250,115,375.

2 minutes ago

Whales Buy 1,900 $BTC ($148M) From Galaxy Digital Amid Market Drop

Despite the market drop, whales are still buying $BTC! Over the past 4 hours, 9 newly created wallets received 1,900 $BTC ($148M) from #GalaxyDigital.

2 minutes ago

Deribit: 134,000 Bitcoin options and 346,000 Ethereum options are set to expire.

According to Deribit data, 134,000 Bitcoin options and 346,000 Ethereum options are set to expire soon, with respective notional values of $10.48 billion and $750 million. The put-call ratio for Bitcoin options stands at 0.53, with a max pain point of $78,000. For Ethereum options, the put-call ratio is 0.73, and its max pain point is $2,400.

2 minutes ago

Bitcoin rebounds to break through $78,000

According to HTX market data, Bitcoin has rebounded to break through $78,000, currently trading at $78,003, with its 24-hour decline narrowed to 4.5%.

2 minutes ago

Whales Buying the Dip on Bitcoin? 9 Newly Created Addresses Accumulate 1,900 BTC in Nearly Four Hours.

According to Lookonchain's monitoring, despite the market downturn, whales are still buying BTC. Over the past four hours, nine newly created wallets have received 1,900 BTC from Galaxy Digital, valued at roughly $148 million.

2 minutes ago

This is a developing story and will be updated as more information becomes available.

Update (23:30 EET): Binance founder Changpeng Zhao said the transfers do look like a hack on Binance and that user funds are safe, while Tether and Circle froze about $971 million in USDT and $823 million in USDC linked to the incident. Binance itself has not yet issued an official statement.

Binance founder Changpeng Zhao said the outflows look like a hack, as Tether and Circle froze linked stablecoins. Long positions took almost all of the forced liquidations, most of them within a single hour. BNB fell harder than any other top-ten coin, pointing to fear about the exchange itself. Hyperliquid stood out as the one large asset where short sellers carried the losses. The crypto market extended its slide late on Thursday, October 29, after on-chain alerts flagged roughly $2.77 billion leaving Binance wallets across five blockchains and posts on X started describing the movement as a possible Binance hack, which would make it one of the largest exchange breaches on record. Binance founder Changpeng Zhao later said the movement does look like a hack, and stablecoin issuers Tether and Circle froze roughly $1.8 billion in tokens tied to it, although the exchange itself has not yet issued an official statement. The claims landed in a derivatives market packed with leveraged long bets, and CoinGlass liquidation data showed $620.41 million in forced closures within a single hour, out of $951.23 million for the full day. Bitcoin traded at $78,929 at the time of writing, while total crypto market capitalization stood at $2.67 trillion, down 1.69%.

How the Binance Hack Claims Took Shape The claim gaining traction says a Binance wallet was emptied into a newly created externally owned account, a standard address controlled by a private key with no smart contract behind it, and that the gas for the contract call came from funds routed through Tornado Cash. That second detail is what turned a large transfer into a hack rumor. Exchanges usually pay fees for internal moves from their own labeled hot wallets, whereas attackers often seed fresh addresses through a mixer so the source of the gas money cannot be traced back to them.

The receiving address, 0x5227f603C1eE34CE3C06eFe6477003BDfCCB2f8c, was first funded by Binance 14, a long-standing labeled exchange wallet, and minutes later took in 28,005.6 ETH from another one, Binance 16. It now holds about 195,469 ETH worth roughly $452 million plus 63 tokens worth about $1.75 billion, and Etherscan puts its multichain balance at around $2.71 billion, which suggests most of the reported $2.77 billion landed in this one wallet across several EVM networks. The Tornado Cash link does not appear on this address’s own Etherscan record, so it may relate to another wallet in the chain of transfers. Funds sent directly from Binance’s labeled wallets point to compromised internal signing keys, which is consistent with Zhao’s assessment that the exchange itself was hit.

New wallet funded by Binance 14 and Binance 16. Source: Etherscan The freezes changed the picture within minutes. Tether blocked about $971 million in USDT and Circle about $823 million in USDC, and Zhao, who no longer runs Binance but remains a shareholder, said in a post on X that he expects all user funds to be fully covered. Stablecoin issuers can blacklist an address and stop its tokens from moving, while ETH and other native coins in the wallet cannot be frozen the same way, so the unfrozen portion is now the part investigators will follow. Anyone who wants to track the exchange’s balances can compare its own proof of reserves page with the independent DeFiLlama exchange transparency dashboard.

October has left traders primed to react before the facts arrive. The Drift Protocol exploit drained $285 million on Solana, Bitget lost up to $387.5 million from its hot and warm wallets in late September, and India’s CoinDCX admitted a $16 million loss days after first denying a fresh breach. With that record in mind, many traders cut exposure before Zhao’s comments and the freezes arrived.

Coin Price 24h Change Bitcoin (BTC) $78,929.59 -2.64% Ethereum (ETH) $2,256.89 -4.14% BNB (BNB) $699.85 -6.95% XRP (XRP) $1.24 -6.40% Solana (SOL) $96.69 -5.28% Hyperliquid (HYPE) $91.86 +13.73% Prices as of the evening of October 29.

Why One Hour Did Most of the Damage A liquidation happens when a leveraged position loses enough value that the trader’s posted margin no longer covers it, at which point the exchange closes the position at market price. For a long opened at 20x leverage, a drop of about 5% is enough. Every forced sale pushes the price slightly lower and brings the next cluster of liquidation levels into range, so on thin order books the process can run through several layers in a matter of minutes.

Thursday’s numbers fit that pattern closely. Longs accounted for $599.62 million of the $620.41 million liquidated in the hour, roughly 97%, while the 24-hour tally showed $802.14 million in longs against $149.10 million in shorts. Positioning was fragile before the rumor surfaced: two Federal Reserve policymakers had backed a quarter-point rate increase at this week’s meeting, and Bitcoin had already slipped below $80,000 during the Asian session as technology stocks sold off, which left many dip buyers with liquidation prices sitting just under the market.

Asset 24h Liquidations Dominant Side BTC $273.96M Longs (85.0%) ETH $226.30M Longs (83.5%) SOL $56.08M Longs HYPE $25.55M Shorts XRP $23.09M Longs BNB $16.80M Longs Source: CoinGlass.

What makes the late-evening drop stand out is that Bitcoin had held around $80,000 through the US session while technology stocks sold off, even though it has tended to trade in step with the Nasdaq for most of the past few years. The Nasdaq Composite closed 1.38% lower after Alphabet’s results reopened the debate over AI spending, with the Google parent losing about 13% in its steepest one-day fall on record after reporting negative free cash flow of $9.07 billion and keeping its full-year capital expenditure forecast at $195 billion to $205 billion. Intel added to the pressure after the bell, falling about 18% in after-hours trading on a weaker revenue forecast, so crypto lost that relative calm just as the selling in big tech names deepened.

BNB Fell Hardest, HYPE Squeezed Shorts BNB gives the clearest read on how the market priced the hack claims. The token dropped 5.99% in an hour and 6.95% over the day, the worst result among the ten largest cryptocurrencies, while Bitcoin lost 2.64% across the same 24 hours. BNB’s value is closely tied to activity on Binance and BNB Chain, so traders tend to sell it first when doubts emerge about the exchange, and its relative weakness says more about the impact of the hack claims than the broad market decline does.

Hyperliquid’s HYPE moved the other way and ranks among the day’s biggest gainers, up 13.73% over 24 hours and 19.02% over seven days. The token dipped alongside the rest of the market when the Binance claims surfaced, but buyers quickly recovered part of that drop, and it was the only large asset on the liquidation map where shorts absorbed most of the losses, with $25.55 million wiped out. The rally began well before the Binance claims appeared, so reading it as a flight from centralized exchanges would be a stretch, although traders will watch whether volume on the on-chain derivatives venue keeps climbing while the questions around Binance stay open.

What Binance Still Has to Explain The missing piece is an official account from Binance. Co-CEOs Richard Teng and Yi He have not yet said how the signing keys behind Binance 14 and Binance 16 were accessed, how much was taken in assets that cannot be frozen, or whether the exchange will cover losses from its own reserves, as Zhao suggested. Withdrawal processing matters just as much, because an exchange that has lost funds typically pauses outflows on affected networks while it secures its remaining wallets.

On the trading side, the size of the flush has already removed part of the leverage that made it so violent. Funding rates, the periodic payments exchanged between long and short traders on perpetual futures, will show whether buyers start rebuilding positions at lower prices, and a move back above $80,000 would return Bitcoin to the range it held before the Fed meeting.

For scale, the October 10, 2025 crash liquidated about $19 billion across exchanges after new US tariffs and Chinese rare-earth export controls hit risk assets, which puts Thursday’s daily total at roughly one-twentieth of that event. The closest precedent for the hack itself is Bybit, which lost about $1.5 billion in ETH in February 2025 and kept withdrawals open while covering the shortfall with its own funds and loans from other firms, and traders will watch whether Binance handles a theft of potentially larger size the same way.

Alex is a financial markets journalist and co-founder of Millennial Media Group, and he's spent close to ten years trying to answer one stubborn question: what's really driving this? It started in 2016, when Bitcoin refused to make sense to him - and rather than shrug, he stayed with it until it did. That patience became his method. He's less interested in what an asset is doing today than in the plumbing behind it: how liquidity flows, where risk hides, what a chart is quietly telling you that the headline isn't. That lens eventually stretched well past crypto into traditional markets, because the same forces - fear, leverage, incentives, timing - show up everywhere once you know how to look. Most coverage, in his view, insults the reader by stopping at the surface. Price up, price down, moving on. He'd rather leave someone genuinely understanding a move than merely informed that it happened. His path into markets ran through a Tourism degree at New Bulgarian University - proof, maybe, that curiosity beats credentials. With more than 200 deep analyses and over 10,000 articles behind him, he still walks away from most trading days having learned something he didn't know that morning.

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Binance loses $5.7 billion in largest crypto hack to date

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Update, Oct. 30 at 1:19 am UTC: This article has been updated with fresh market data, Binance’s pledge to cover all losses and its revised frozen assets total.

Cryptocurrency markets extended their decline early Friday following the Binance hack, with BNB down more than 8% over 24 hours and Bitcoin trading near $77,000.

BNB, the native token of BNB Chain, traded near $693, down around 8.2%, according to CoinGecko data at the time of writing. Bitcoin fell 4.8% to about $77,131, while Ether declined 5.7% to about $2,217.

Binance pledged to cover all losses from the hack and suspended all deposits and withdrawals while conducting security checks. In a subsequent update, the exchange put the verified total of frozen assets at around $3 billion, up from its earlier figure of $2.54 billion.

Decentralized finance tokens also declined. Aave’s AAVE fell 11.3% to $118.54, while Uniswap’s UNI dropped 10.4% to $6.48, according to CoinGecko.

Aave said it had frozen new deposits and borrowing across its community-operated V3 and V4 markets as a precaution. The lending platform said its contracts were unaffected and users could still withdraw funds and repay loans.

Bitcoin traded below $77,000 as BNB fell 8% over 24 hours. Source: CoinGecko

The Bitcoin Fear and Greed Index fell to “fear” at a score of 30, its lowest since Aug. 14.

Magazine: Cybersecurity’s Black October: How to protect yourself

Bitcoin Bitcoin (BTC) fell below $77,000 late Thursday, alongside declines in other major cryptocurrencies, as the Binance exploit intensified a market-wide sell-off.

The world's largest cryptocurrency dropped 4.5% over the past 24 hours to trade at $76,664 as of 10:00 p.m. ET Thursday, according to The Block's bitcoin price page. 

BNB (BNB), the native cryptocurrency that powers the Binance ecosystem, lost 7.1% to change hands at $698.65. Ethereum slid 5.2% to $2,190, while XRP fell 7% to $1.21.

Crypto liquidations totaled $1.55 billion over the past 24 hours, with 246,482 traders liquidated, according to CoinGlass data. Those included $1.34 billion in long positions. The largest observed liquidation order was on Binance-BTCUSDT, valued at $11.09 million.

The crypto market decline coincided with a major Thursday hack at Binance, the world's largest cryptocurrency exchange. Blockchain analytics firm Chainalysis estimated that roughly $5.9 billion was stolen at the time of the theft.

"The Binance exploit has intensified market-wide selling, with BNB facing the greatest exposure. About $1.5 billion in 24-hour liquidations, predominantly long positions, has amplified pressure on BTC and ETH," Dominick John, analyst of Zeus Research, told The Block.

"Market recovery hinges on Binance restoring confidence in exchange security and customer funds," John added.

Analysts see 'contained' market fallout However, Rick Maeda, head of Markets at Laevitas, suggested that the market reaction to the Binance hack appears to be "fairly contained" and that the BNB's drop was "quite modest for possibly the largest exchange theft ever."

"The exchange's $144 billion assets under custody, the fact that they paid a $4.3 billion penalty to the U.S. government in 2024 for AML breaches with no issue, as well as the swift responses from stablecoin providers such as Tether and Circle to freeze over $2.4 billion have all contributed to the lack of panic across the industry," said Maeda.

Jeff Ko, chief analyst of ViaBTC, shared similar views. "I don't expect the stolen BTC to add much selling pressure," said Ko. "The broader crypto market was already leaning bearish, which is why the sell-off spread so quickly across the board. That said, I believe Binance can absorb the loss comfortably."

Price Performance (The Block) Covering user losses Binance said on X that the currently verified frozen amount from the hack is around $3 billion. Binance Co-CEO Yi He also said that the exchange will cover all user losses resulting from the hack.

Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong said Coinbase is "doing everything we can to support in the current situation," including blocking transfers to compromised wallets. 

"Moments like this call for the industry to work together," Armstrong added.

Whales Buy 1,900 $BTC ($148M) From Galaxy Digital Amid Market Drop

Despite the market drop, whales are still buying $BTC!
Over the past 4 hours, 9 newly created wallets received 1,900 $BTC ($148M) from #GalaxyDigital.

19 minutes ago

Deribit: 134,000 Bitcoin options and 346,000 Ethereum options are set to expire.

According to Deribit data, 134,000 Bitcoin options and 346,000 Ethereum options are set to expire soon, with respective notional values of $10.48 billion and $750 million. The put-call ratio for Bitcoin options stands at 0.53, with a max pain point of $78,000. For Ethereum options, the put-call ratio is 0.73, and its max pain point is $2,400.

19 minutes ago

Bitcoin rebounds to break through $78,000

According to HTX market data, Bitcoin has rebounded to break through $78,000, currently trading at $78,003, with its 24-hour decline narrowed to 4.5%.

19 minutes ago

Whales Buying the Dip on Bitcoin? 9 Newly Created Addresses Accumulate 1,900 BTC in Nearly Four Hours.

According to Lookonchain's monitoring, despite the market downturn, whales are still buying BTC. Over the past four hours, nine newly created wallets have received 1,900 BTC from Galaxy Digital, valued at roughly $148 million.

19 minutes ago

Following the hacker’s sell-off, seven altcoins have rallied, with two whales buying the dip in ENA and PEPE during the same period.

According to TradingBeats monitoring, as of press time, all tokens involved in the Binance hacker sell-off—UNI, ENA, PEPE, LINK, AAVE, ONDO, and WLD—have rebounded from their lows during this morning’s sell-off. PEPE has rallied roughly 12%, while ENA is up around 10%. After 9 AM this morning, two whales opened long positions worth approximately $3.09 million in PEPE and $4.01 million in ENA on Hyperliquid, totaling $7.1 million. They currently hold an unrealized profit of around $250,000 (wallet addresses: 0xb122, 0xedc0). Over the same period, PEPE’s nominal open interest (OI) rose roughly 23%, while ENA’s OI edged down about 1%. UNI has rebounded roughly 7%, with its nominal OI increasing by around 7%. Two accounts that opened short positions around 6 AM this morning still hold a combined short position worth approximately $2.83 million, currently facing an unrealized loss of about $90,000 (wallet addresses: 0x60a8, 0x2de3). For the remaining four tokens: AAVE rallied roughly 7% with nominal OI up ~1%; LINK gained ~5% with OI down ~4%; ONDO rose ~6% with OI down ~6%; WLD rallied ~7% with OI down ~13%.

19 minutes ago

Addresses linked to Kanye West offloaded 1,390 ETH to reduce liquidation risk, incurring a loss of approximately $317,000.

According to on-chain analyst Ai Yi (@ai_9684xtpa), an address linked to Kanye West began selling ETH in batches six hours after the disclosure of Binance's hack. The address sold 1,390 ETH at an average price of $2,275.6, totaling around $3.163 million, with a loss of approximately $317,000. Currently, the address still holds 19,506.17 ETH as collateral, has borrowed $27.67 million in stablecoins, with a health ratio of 1.31. A liquidation will be triggered if ETH falls to $1,689.59.

19 minutes ago

Stellar is navigating renewed selling pressure even as the Stellar Development Foundation (SDF) announced a strategic investment in Marketnode. The move aims to expand Stellar’s presence in the evolving institutional digital finance landscape in Asia-Pacific, but so far, XLM trades below major technical levels as sellers remain in control.

Stellar partners with Marketnode in push for institutional adoptionAt Meridian 2026, held on October 28 and 29, the SDF revealed it has invested in Marketnode, a prominent operator of digital market infrastructure in Asia-Pacific. Marketnode is supported by major financial firms, including Euroclear, HSBC, SGX Group, and Temasek.

Marketnode specializes in building digital financial infrastructure, with a focus on enabling institutions to issue and manage tokenized products. SDF stated that its backing of Marketnode is expected to increase institutional access to tokenized assets on the Stellar network throughout the region.

José Fernández da Ponte, President and Chief Growth Officer of SDF, underscored the partnership’s potential, highlighting Marketnode’s strong connections to regional financial institutions and infrastructure needed to bring financial products onchain.

Marketnode brings together deep connectivity across the region’s financial institutions with the infrastructure needed to issue, distribute, and service financial products onchain, according to SDF President José Fernández da Ponte.

While this development is seen as a potential long-term catalyst for Stellar, analysts caution that it does not guarantee immediate price recovery or demand for XLM. The network’s ability to draw sustained institutional interest remains to be seen in coming months.

Mini dictionary: Marketnode is a fintech company based in Asia-Pacific specializing in digital market infrastructure. It works with major financial institutions to provide issuance, servicing, and distribution of tokenized and digital financial products.

XLM price trades below key moving averagesXLM is trading at $0.1715, marking a decline of 0.52% over the most recent daily session. The token remains beneath its major exponential moving averages, a technical setup often seen as a signal of persisting downward momentum.

On the daily chart, the 20-day EMA stands at $0.1801, while the 50-day and 100-day EMAs are tightly clustered at $0.1873 and $0.1875, respectively. The 200-day EMA is positioned at $0.1904. With XLM currently below all these levels, multiple resistance barriers lie ahead for potential recovery efforts.

EMA PeriodPrice20-day$0.180150-day$0.1873100-day$0.1875200-day$0.1904Current XLM Price$0.1715To move higher, XLM first needs to regain the 20-day EMA at $0.1801 and then test resistance around $0.1873–$0.1904. Conversely, losing support at the recent daily low of $0.1669 could open the way to further declines toward the $0.1600 level.

Bears control momentum as RSI and open interest declineThe 14-day Relative Strength Index (RSI) for XLM stands at 37.41, only marginally above its moving average but well below the neutral 50 threshold. This suggests that bearish momentum remains dominant for now. The indicator is also moving closer to the oversold level of 30, while a rise above 50 would signal improved sentiment.

Meanwhile, data from CoinGlass shows open interest in XLM futures contracts falling from more than $300 million in early October to roughly $210 million by October 29. As open interest fell, XLM’s price dropped from $0.22 down to the current $0.17 range, highlighting weaker speculative activity.

DateXLM PriceOpen InterestEarly October$0.22$300 million+October 29$0.17$210 millionLarge liquidation events were more pronounced in late May, while recent activity has been relatively subdued. This suggests that the current price drop has not led to dramatic forced liquidations, but buyers have yet to step in meaningfully.

Looking ahead, XLM’s prospects depend on whether it can defend the $0.1669 support and reclaim its short-term moving averages. A move above $0.1801 would target resistance near $0.1904. However, if the token falls under $0.1669, additional downside toward $0.1600 could materialize.

Despite SDF’s partnership with Marketnode and ambitions to broaden institutional access, the technical outlook remains cautious. Clear confirmation of returning demand is needed before a sustained recovery can take shape.

CFTC Chairman Michael Selig has pledged to help reshape regulations for onchain finance during Chainlink’s Link:NYC event, as the agency develops a federal registration pathway for crypto trading platforms.

Summary

Selig pledged regulatory work supporting onchain finance at Link:NYC.
The CFTC’s crypto exchange registration framework remains under consultation.
Existing plans distinguish ordinary spot trading from leveraged retail transactions.
SEC cooperation and prediction-market oversight form separate parts of the agency’s agenda.

Chainlink’s official event updates attributed the remarks to Selig at the Oct. 29 gathering, where he praised companies working on blockchain-based financial markets.

CFTC Chair Selig promises work on onchain finance
In the statement published by the event organizer, Selig said the future of onchain finance could be determined by discussions taking place at the conference. He expressed the agency’s support for companies developing the sector and its willingness to help reshape the applicable regulations.

“We’re excited to play a role in reshaping regulations for this ecosystem,” Selig said.

His appearance follows an October consultation on how crypto platforms could operate within a federal framework. As crypto.news previously reported, the agency is developing a voluntary registration pathway using its existing statutory authority while Congress has yet to enact a crypto market-structure law.

The Oct. 26 report described plans for exchanges offering leveraged, margined or financed retail crypto transactions. It identified customer funds, token listings, conflicts of interest and proof of reserves among the safeguards being considered for participating venues.

Published as an advance notice of proposed rulemaking, the consultation seeks public input before possible future rules. The agency opened the process on Oct. 5, and the notice’s Federal Register publication sets Dec. 14, 2026, as the comment deadline.

Crypto exchange plans distinguish spot trading from leverage
During his Oct. 5 Fordham remarks, Selig described three categories of exchanges with different regulatory obligations. Ordinary spot venues generally operate under state money-transmission laws, while remaining subject to the CFTC’s anti-fraud and anti-manipulation authority.

Platforms offering retail customers margined, leveraged or financed crypto transactions fall into a separate category requiring CFTC registration, he said. Exchanges offering perpetual contracts and other derivatives occupy a third category under the agency’s jurisdiction.

Selig acknowledged that only Congress can require all crypto exchanges to register with the commission. His proposed approach would give qualifying platforms a federal route based on the services they offer.

The contemplated crypto asset market designation, known as CAM, would be a subcategory of designated contract market. Selig said platforms offering futures, options or swaps would remain subject to the existing designated contract market framework.

His speech separately described work on a policy for software developers who do not solicit orders, control execution or hold customer assets. Staff was directed to examine how onchain venues operate and where control resides.

The agency’s October consultation announcement seeks feedback on Regulation Crypto Asset Transactions, or CTX, and Regulation Crypto Asset Markets. Earlier coverage of the federal crypto trading proposals distinguished the consultation from an adopted market-wide framework.

The release grounds the planned rules in Section 2(c)(2)(D) of the Commodity Exchange Act. It asks how a national regime could prevent abusive practices, explain crypto-specific compliance expectations, and establish the CAM registration category through rulemaking.

In his statement accompanying the consultation, Selig said the commission wanted regulations capable of preventing fraudulent schemes before customers suffered losses. The agency said information received during the consultation would inform potential future action.

Written submissions would be publicly posted, giving market participants an opportunity to comment on both the transaction rules and the proposed platform designation.

SEC cooperation includes guidance on crypto asset status
Cooperation with the SEC predates the October exchange consultation. In a March 17 announcement, the securities regulator published an interpretation addressing how federal securities laws apply to certain crypto assets and transactions.

The CFTC joined that interpretation with guidance that it and its staff would administer the Commodity Exchange Act consistently with the SEC’s interpretation. Both agencies described the action as part of their work to give market participants clearer treatment under existing law.

SEC Chairman Paul Atkins said the interpretation recognized that most crypto assets are not themselves securities and that investment contracts can come to an end. He described the guidance as a bridge while Congress worked on market-structure legislation.

Selig’s accompanying statement committed the two regulators to workable, harmonized regulations. The announcement addressed asset and transaction classifications without presenting the October CAM registration framework as an already available license.

Prediction markets remain subject to manipulation scrutiny
Separate prediction market oversight coverage published Oct. 24 described Selig’s monitoring of possible manipulation ahead of the U.S. midterm elections, drawing on reporting about his Bloomberg interview.

The report detailed completed CFTC settlements involving Gabriel Perez and former Rep. George Santos. Perez was ordered to return $107,539.02 in trading profits and pay a $65,000 civil penalty after the agency found that he used advance access to presidential speeches to trade related contracts.

Santos’s settlement required the return of $17,569.98 in profits and a $17,500 civil penalty over trading tied to his attendance at the 2026 State of the Union address. Both settlements imposed three-year trading bans.

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