Binance freezes EUR 2.25 billion after cyber attack

A cryptocurrency trading platform Binance advanced on Thursday that it was the target of a massive cyber attack and that it froze more than 2.5 billion dollars (€2.25 billion to avoid undue withdrawal of funds.

The company has ensured that the funds deposited by customers on its platform are “totally safe”, although several experts have reported deviations from colossal amounts.

Binance also reported that it suspended transactions of certain products.

“This seems to be a cyberattack to Binance”, commented on social network X Changpeng Zhao, former chief executive of the platform, who, although no longer holding operational positions, remains the majority shareholder of the group.

Tether’s executive president, the issuing company of the USDT cryptocurrency, the third largest digital currency in circulation (about $180 billion), announced the freezing of approximately $1.6 billion in assets, “in connection with a possible attack” on Binance.

The director-general of Circle, in charge of the USDC cryptocurrency, indicated the blockade of about $800 million.

Both USDT and USDC are “tablecoins”, digital coins whose value is linked to a traditional currency, in this case the dollar.

Jeremy Allaire, Chief Executive of Circle, clarified that the measure was taken in coordination with the authorities.

For several hours, before Binance confirmed the attack around 11:30 on Thursday, several experts had already claimed that hackers had breached the platform.

Some described the episode as the most serious attack ever carried out in the cryptocurrency world, with an amount higher than $1.5 billion subtracted in February 2025 from the Bybit platform, an action attributed to hackers linked to North Korea.

In this context, the quotation of bitcoin declined sharply. At around 23:35 on Thursday, the cryptocurrency fell by 3.41%, being traded at 78,492 dollars.