Binance hack drained wallets backing customer assets, reserve data shows
A major hack of Binance has resulted in the theft of significant cryptocurrency assets, causing the exchange's reserve ratio for Ethereum to drop below 100%. While stablecoin issuers have frozen a portion of the stolen funds, the incident highlights vulnerabilities in wallet security and the impact of unauthorized access on exchange reserves.
Why it matters
The breach underscores the systemic risks in centralized cryptocurrency exchanges and the ongoing challenges of securing digital assets against sophisticated exploits.
That means that Binance’s 1:1 backing of some assets, ether in particular, has likely fallen below 100% until the exchange replaces what was taken.
Every month, Binance publishes a list of wallets it controls and what they hold, and compares those totals with what customers hold on the platform. Its most recent report, dated Oct. 1, includes a wallet labeled “Binance 14,” the wallet at the center of the attack. At the time of the report, it held 1.26 billion USDT and 89,475 ETH, among 37 assets.
Also covering this story
3 other newsrooms covered this event. We read each version separately.
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