Binance Puts Frozen Assets at $2.54 Billion as It Probes Security Reports

Binance said it had verified $2.54 billion in assets frozen in connection with a potential security incident it is investigating, while the exchange has not disclosed a final loss figure.

Binance said at 5:29 p.m. ET Thursday (21:29 UTC) that “user funds are completely safe.” At 7:22 p.m. ET (23:22 UTC), the company put its current verified frozen-asset total at $2.54 billion and said the figure could grow as it works with law enforcement, token issuers and blockchain intelligence firms.

Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino said at 5:25 p.m. ET (21:25 UTC) that Tether had frozen more than 1.567 billion USDT connected to a potential Binance hack. Binance co-founder Changpeng Zhao wrote, “It does look like a hack on Binance,” but the exchange has not confirmed a hack or explained how the transfers occurred.

Binance said withdrawals would resume after it resolved the security issue. Its $2.54 billion figure counts frozen assets, not confirmed losses, and the exchange has not published a final loss total.