Bitcoin and Cryptocurrencies Slide Amid Binance Hacking Allegations

Bitcoin fell below US$78,000 on Friday (30 October 2026), as fears over a suspected security breach at cryptocurrency exchange Binance shook digital-asset markets.

According to CNBC International, the world’s largest cryptocurrency dropped more than 4% to US$77,994.96, extending losses after it had earlier breached the psychologically significant US$80,000 level.

Binance has not explicitly confirmed that it was hacked. A spokesperson said the team was aware of reports of a potential security issue and was actively investigating, while stressing that users’ funds remained safe.

“Our team is aware of reports of a potential security issue and is actively investigating,” the Binance spokesperson said, according to CNBC International on Friday (30 October 2026).

Changpeng Zhao, Binance’s founder and former chief executive, also sought to reassure investors, saying customer funds were safe, although he said the incident appeared to be a hack.

Selling pressure also hit other crypto assets. Ether, the second-largest cryptocurrency by market capitalisation, fell 4.84% to US$2,247.45. Binance’s native token, BNB, plunged 7.68% to US$694.45.

Amid the widespread sell-off, Hyperliquid’s HYPE token rose 9.7% to US$89.08.

Several crypto companies froze a combined US$2.54 billion on Thursday (29 October 2026) in connection with the suspected incident.

Circle chief executive Jeremy Allaire said his company had frozen more than US$800 million in USD Coin (USDC), while Tether chief executive Paolo Ardoino said his company had halted transactions involving more than US$1.5 billion in USDT suspected of being linked to the breach.

According to Binance co-founder Yi He, Ripple also helped prevent the movement of US$200 million connected to the suspected attack.

The scale of the incident could be far greater than the funds frozen. Blockchain analytics firm Arkham Intelligence identified nearly US$6 billion in digital assets spread across 55 wallet addresses that could be linked to the event.

The incident has renewed concerns about security vulnerabilities in the crypto industry, which has suffered several major breaches in recent years. In 2025, crypto exchange Bybit was hacked for about US$1.5 billion, while rival Bitget recently lost more than US$350 million in digital assets in a cyber theft.