Crypto news

An attacker used Ethereum's EIP-7702 feature to drain about $2.5 billion from a Binance wallet in under four minutes, part of a $6.3 billion total loss across multiple blockchains. The attacker obtained 50 valid signatures from Binance's wallet, which pointed it to a malicious smart contract, enabling the theft. The feature, part of the May 2025 Pectra upgrade, lets ordinary wallets run smart-contract code. The attacker's code remained active for nearly four hours, sweeping additional deposits. Binance pledged to cover losses, with about $3 billion frozen. Investigators suspect a compromised DevOps laptop and other unconfirmed entry points, though no private keys leaked.

An attacker stole approximately 18,270 bitcoin worth $1.4 billion from Binance and split the funds into 19 wallets within minutes, with none of the coins moving as of early Friday. Blockchain analysis shows the coins were distributed via a peel chain, leaving 17 wallets holding exactly 1,000 BTC each, one with 832.5 BTC, and one with 437.7 BTC. Unlike stablecoins, bitcoin cannot be frozen by issuers, making the funds harder to recover. TRM Labs attributed the theft to North Korea's TraderTraitor hacking unit with high confidence, while Binance's preliminary investigation points to a compromised employee laptop used to submit unauthorized withdrawals. Binance reported total losses of $6.3 billion and pledged to cover them, but deposits and withdrawals remain suspended.

The U.S. FBI confirmed that North Korea's TraderTraitor hacking group was behind the $6 billion Binance hack, urging the crypto community to block transactions from hundreds of addresses linked to the stolen funds. The FBI listed over 600 Ethereum addresses, nearly 20 Bitcoin addresses, and one Solana address, expecting the hackers to use DeFi tools to launder assets. Chainalysis reported that the attackers have already used thousands of addresses and anticipates tens of thousands more as laundering continues. Binance has replenished 90% of the stolen crypto and plans to resume withdrawals, while stablecoin issuers froze over $2.4 billion. President Trump said his administration would discuss the hack with North Korea.

Bitcoin has dropped to $76,000 following the $6.3 billion Binance hack, the largest in crypto history, after trading in the $80,000-$85,000 range for a month. With Binance withdrawals still suspended, further market pressure is expected when users can access funds. Analysts are divided on the impact. Charles Edwards argues the hack shows crypto's vulnerabilities, calling for a quantum-proof Bitcoin roadmap and stating new all-time highs are distant. Physicist Giovanni Santostasi counters that the failure lies with centralized exchanges, not Bitcoin's protocol, while Benjamin Cowen views the breach as a typical bear-market event for the fourth quarter. All three experts suggest a new ATH is not imminent, differing on whether the cause is broken trust, failing middlemen, or the cycle clock.

A wallet linked to the October 29 Binance hack has moved 120 million TRX to an unknown address, according to Whale Alert. The stolen funds, part of the record $6.3 billion breach, are being laundered through small transfers, likely using peel-chain tactics. Tron was one of the hardest-hit networks, with attackers swapping 234 million USDT for about 638 million TRX via SunSwap. Unlike stablecoins, TRX cannot be frozen by a central issuer, making recovery difficult. Tether and Circle froze roughly $2.7 billion to $3 billion in stablecoins after the attack. The hack is attributed to North Korean group TraderTraitor, and Binance is investigating a compromised DevOps laptop as the initial vector. The exchange has set aside $6.34 billion to cover customer losses. The incident highlights the challenge of recovering native tokens like TRX, which rely on tracing and cooperation rather than issuer intervention. It also raises concerns about centralized exchange security and may push some traders toward decentralized platforms.

Bitcoin fell to around $76,300 on Thursday after Binance confirmed a security breach with an estimated total impact of $6.3 billion, one of the largest crypto thefts on record. The price had earlier hit a 24-hour high of $81,890 before the selloff, with millions in leveraged long positions liquidated. Binance said the incident may involve a compromised DevOps engineer's laptop, with no evidence of a private key leak. Binance has frozen about $3 billion in affected assets on-chain, with stablecoin issuers Tether and Circle also freezing stolen funds. Deposits and withdrawals remain suspended, and Binance said it will cover all losses from its SAFU fund and company funds, adding that user funds are safe. A detailed post-mortem is pending, while former CEO Changpeng Zhao said he expects all user funds to be fully covered.

Binance, the world's largest crypto exchange, was exploited for over $5 billion on Thursday, with the hacker's wallet holding more than $5.7 billion in stolen cryptos, including nearly $1.5 billion in bitcoin and $900 million in ether, plus $1.4 billion in USDT and USDC. Binance confirmed it was investigating, while founder CZ said user funds are safe and expected to be fully covered. Tether and Circle froze over $1.57 billion and $800 million of their stablecoins respectively. The hack caused crypto prices to slide, with bitcoin down 3% to $78,800, ether down 4%, BNB down 6.7%, and AAVE down 8% after the exploiter borrowed $44 million in wrapped ETH via Aave using stolen USDT. It was the second major breach on Thursday, following a smaller attack on Polymarket. This is a developing story.

After the Binance hack that saw over $6 billion in assets stolen, large bitcoin traders scrambled to buy put options as insurance against further price drops. The first major trade on Paradigm, an institutional liquidity network, occurred just 15 minutes after outflows were spotted and before the news was public, involving $78,000 puts expiring Oct. 31. Within eight hours, Paradigm traded around $590 million in notional BTC options blocks, with the flow lopsidedly bearish. Most buying was in puts near the current spot price, suggesting conviction hedging against a near-term pullback rather than deep-tail crash protection. Deribit also saw increased put activity, including a multi-leg strategy worth around $190 million, though some call buying persisted. Meanwhile, the broader market split, with privacy coins like Monero and Zcash holding up while bitcoin, ether, and DeFi tokens wilted. Standard Chartered warned that weakness may persist until details of the hack emerge and exchanges unfreeze involved coins.

The attackers behind the $6.3 billion Binance hack held more Bitcoin on Friday than Coinbase's corporate treasury, according to blockchain analytics firm Bitquery. The hackers' 18,270 BTC, worth about $1.4 billion, exceeded Coinbase's combined 18,071 BTC held for investment and operations as of Sept. 30. Binance confirmed the hack on Friday, saying about $3 billion in stolen assets had been frozen and the exchange would cover all losses. Blockchain intelligence firm TRM Labs attributed the attack to North Korea's TraderTraitor group. Investigators found additional breach points beyond the initially suspected compromised laptop. The attackers also held 508,621 ETH, exceeding the Ether holdings of The Ether Machine, the third-largest corporate ETH holder. The initial theft involved 200,630 ETH, with the rest accumulated through swaps of stolen stablecoins and other tokens.

Intercontinental Exchange (ICE), parent of the New York Stock Exchange, has partnered with TradeXYZ to launch Hyperliquid-based perpetual futures in the U.S. under a regulated framework, pending regulatory approvals. ICE will operate the markets and provide clearing infrastructure for perps tied to crypto, equities, indices, commodities, and forex, while also making a strategic investment in TradeXYZ. CEO Jeffrey Sprecher cited growing global retail demand for around-the-clock, short-duration exposure, viewing these markets as additive to existing futures offerings. The HYPE token rose 15% to around $91.21 on the news, below its all-time high of $97.96 from last month. Hyperliquid will provide the underlying technology via HIP-3, TradeXYZ will design and implement the markets, and ICE will oversee the regulated trading and clearing. The partnership follows CFTC no-action relief issued in May, which cleared a path for perps in the U.S., and a September mention by President Trump of bringing Hyperliquid into the country in a compliant manner.