Cryptocurrency stablecoin issuers Tether and Circle froze more than $2.38 billion in digital assets on Thursday after Binance reported a major security breach. The incident prompted swift action across the digital asset sector, with multiple firms moving to lock compromised funds.
Binance, recognized as the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange with over 335 million registered global users, announced on the social media platform X that its engineering and security teams were reviewing all relevant information with urgency. The company maintained in its public statements that user funds remained safe.
Tether, which issues the world’s largest stablecoin, stated that it froze nearly $1.57 billion linked to the exploit. Meanwhile, rival stablecoin issuer Circle locked over $800 million. Circle co-founder and CEO Jeremy Allaire confirmed on X that his company was closely tracking reports of the potential exploit involving Binance and pledged continued support for the ongoing investigation.
Additional containment efforts came from other industry players. Crypto firm Ripple froze roughly $200 million, according to a post on X by Binance co-founder Yi He. Changpeng Zhao, another Binance co-founder who no longer manages day-to-day operations at the exchange, characterized the event on X by stating that the incident “looked like a hack.”
Despite the scale of the breach across the primary platform, Binance.US, the distinct American subsidiary operating as a separate cryptocurrency exchange, issued a statement confirming it was not affected by the security incident.
Cryptocurrency exchanges function as digital marketplaces where individuals buy, sell, and trade various digital assets. As investigations continue, industry regulators and platform operators are assessing the full scope of the breach and the efficacy of the multi-billion-dollar asset freezes implemented by the stablecoin issuers.
