Binance sees nearly $3.8 billion withdrawn in 10 hours after reopening

Users moved funds off the exchange quickly once withdrawals resumed following the October hot wallet breach Users pulled nearly $3.8 billion off Binance in roughly 10 hours. The outflow came after Binance began a phased restart of withdrawals on November 1, 2026. Withdrawals had been frozen since an October 29 security breach that drained approximately $6.3 billion from the exchange’s hot wallets. What happened at Binance On October 29, attackers emptied Binance hot wallets of approximately $6.3 billion. The incident is widely seen as the largest theft in crypto history. A quick primer: a hot wallet is connected to the internet so an exchange can process withdrawals quickly. A cold wallet stays offline. Hot wallets offer convenience, but that connectivity is also what makes them a target. Binance paused all withdrawals the same day. It then worked to freeze nearly $3 billion of the affected assets, partnering with stablecoin issuers Tether and Circle on recovery efforts. That partnership matters because stablecoin issuers can freeze tokens at the contract level. When stolen funds are held in a stablecoin, the issuer can effectively lock that money in place. The breach was traced to...