Biggest crypto hack in history:Estimated ₹50,000 crore stolen from the world’s largest exchange, Binance

Binance, the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange, has been hacked. It is being considered the biggest crypto hack in history. The company has temporarily halted deposits and withdrawals. Crypto experts and analytics firms estimate that more than $5 billion worth of cryptocurrency, or around ₹50,000 crore, was stolen in the hack. Following the incident, Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies recorded declines of more than 5%. What Happened? Question 1. What went wrong at Binance and what steps has the company taken? Answer: Binance’s digital locker has been breached. A hacker broke through Binance’s security system, infiltrated its systems and stole crypto coins worth thousands of crores of rupees. The company immediately took three major steps: Question 2. What is the estimated total crypto loss in the hacking incident? Answer: Binance has not yet disclosed the amount of crypto stolen, but crypto analytics firms have estimated substantial losses. According to Glassnode, the loss was $5.3 billion. Chainalysis, meanwhile, estimates that $5.9 billion worth of crypto-approximately ₹50,000 crore-was stolen. Question 3. How significant is this incident considered in the history of the crypto industry? Answer: If the estimates prove correct, this could be the largest crypto heist in history. The theft from Dubai-based crypto exchange Bybit by North Korean hackers in 2025 was previously the biggest incident to date. The hack involved $1.5 billion. In other words, the theft from Binance is around four times larger than the Bybit incident. History’s 3 Biggest Crypto Hacks Question 4. How many users have been affected by this breach? Have Indians also been affected? Answer: Binance has more than 300 million or 30 crore registered users in over 100 countries. Of these, an estimated 2 crore to 2.5 crore are Indian users. However, Binance has not yet released an exact figure for how many users’ individual accounts have been affected. The relief is that Binance’s US division, Binance US, is completely safe from this incident. The total number of Binance users in India is not available. Question 5. How did the hackers breach the system? What has the preliminary investigation revealed? Answer: According to Binance, the breach may be linked to the hacking of one of its developer engineers’ laptops. It is suspected that the hackers used this laptop to gain access to the service container and submit orders for unauthorised withdrawals. However, Binance has also made it clear that no evidence has been found of any user’s private key being leaked. – revoked the affected address authorisation; – engaged law enforcement and blockchain intelligence partners to trace and recover funds. Our teams are working around the clock to resolve this issue safely and thoroughly. We are working closely with our law enforcement partners to confirm the identity of these criminals and bring them to justice. Please rely only on official Binance channels for updates. Please feel free to contact Binance Customer Support if you have any further questions. https://t.co/ywB2mKFy0p- Binance (@binance) October 30, 2026 Question 6. What action has been taken so far to freeze the assets? Answer: Binance itself has frozen around $3 billion, or approximately ₹29,000 crore, in digital assets. In addition, two other major crypto platforms, Tether and Circle, have frozen assets worth $1.6 billion and $800 million, respectively. In total, the three companies have blocked assets worth around $5.4 billion, or approximately ₹50,000 crore. Question 7. What did Binance’s former CEO Changpeng Zhao (CZ) say about the incident? Answer: Binance’s former chief, Changpeng Zhao (CZ), wrote on the social media platform X that the incident appeared to be a hack. CZ no longer manages the company, but he remains Binance’s largest shareholder. Question 8. What impact has this incident had on the crypto market? Answer: As soon as the alert was issued, the price of Bitcoin, the world’s largest cryptocurrency, fell by around 5%. Prices of other major digital currencies, such as Ethereum and Solana, also declined by nearly the same amount. Question 9. What are the key facts about Binance, and how extensive is its network? Answer: Binance was founded by Changpeng Zhao in China in 2017. It is the world’s largest crypto exchange in terms of daily trading volume. It has more than 30 crore registered users worldwide. According to 2024 figures, Binance holds $160 billion, or around ₹15 lakh crore, in digital assets belonging to people around the world. Question 10. What will happen next in this investigation, and what advice has been given to users? Answer: Binance’s teams are working with law enforcement agencies. The company has said that a detailed “post-mortem report” will be shared after the investigation is complete. Until then, users have been advised to rely only on updates from Binance’s official channels. Knowledge Part: What is “asset freezing”? When a crypto exchange is hacked, hackers try to immediately transfer the stolen funds to another wallet or cash them out. Stablecoin issuers such as Tether (USDT) and Circle (USDC) can blacklist or freeze an address at the blockchain level. This prevents the hacker from transferring the funds further or cashing them out.