Global cryptocurrency exchange Binance has faced a major hacking and theft incident. According to the firm Glassnode, an estimated 5.3 billion dollars were stolen in the incident, while the firm Chainalysis reported the theft of 5.9 billion dollars. Binance former CEO Changpeng Zhao has described the incident as a hack.

Deposits and withdrawals suspended

Following this major incident, Binance temporarily suspended all deposits and withdrawals on its platform. As part of security measures, Binance froze digital assets worth approximately 3 billion dollars. Additionally, Tether froze assets worth 1.6 billion dollars and Circle froze 800 million dollars.

Market impact and unconfirmed figures

The market was also impacted immediately after this security breach and hacking incident. Following the event, a decline of more than 5 percent was recorded in the price of Bitcoin. However, the precise official figure for the total amount stolen and the number of affected user accounts are yet to be released by Binance.