Binance Investigates Possible Hack as Tether, Circle and Ripple Freeze Billions in Crypto

Binance, the world's largest cryptocurrency exchange, said Thursday it was investigating a "potential security issue" after very large transfers left its wallets, and stablecoin issuers Tether and Circle froze more than $2 billion in funds linked to the incident. Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino said on X that the company froze more than $1.567 billion of its currency tied to "a potential Binance exchange hack," while Circle CEO Jeremy Allaire said Circle froze more than $800 million in USD Coin, in coordination with law enforcement. Binance co-founder Yi He said Ripple helped halt about $200 million. Changpeng Zhao, Binance's founder, who says he no longer manages the exchange, wrote that it "does look like a hack." A Binance spokesperson said user funds were completely safe and that updates would follow once information was verified. Binance had not explicitly confirmed a hack or the amount taken. Bitcoin fell 3.2% to under $79,000. Binance.US said it was not affected.

The right-leaning New York Post and Newsmax lead with the freezes and Zhao's hack remark. The Post gives a $2.38 billion total, adds Ripple's $200 million, notes Binance's more than 335 million registered users and explains what exchanges are, and says Binance.US was unaffected. Newsmax is brief and headlines the probe and $2.5 billion frozen. Both play down uninsured deposits, price moves and edit details. The left-leaning NBC News and The Guardian US also lead with the investigation and freezes, quoting Binance's reassurance. NBC adds that exchange deposits are not government-insured, so refunds could be discretionary, while The Guardian stresses that damage was unclear and gives the bitcoin drop. Both sides agree on the core facts. Alternative outlets ZeroHedge and CNBC differ most: ZeroHedge reports that Binance edited its statement twice, cites Zhao's expectation that users will be covered, and questions overlapping totals, while CNBC's Arkham figure links nearly $6 billion in assets to the incident.