Binance halts withdrawals as hack estimates swing from $2bn to $5.8bn

Binance froze deposits and withdrawals across every network on October 29 after suspicious outflows hit Ethereum, Arbitrum and Avalanche hot wallets. Binance itself has verified $2.54 billion in frozen assets, as the exchange confirmed, while Arkham Intelligence put wallets tied to the suspected attacker at $5.84 billion and Blockaid estimated $3.3 billion in suspicious transfers. Tether froze $1.567 billion in USDT and Circle froze roughly $800 million in USDC within hours, the only reason this isn't already a liquidity crisis. Co-founder Changpeng Zhao called it a hack; Binance itself has not. Co-founder Yi He has pledged Binance will cover all hacking losses, but pledges aren't balance sheets, and the final number could still move by billions before this is over.