Bitcoin slides below $77,000 after Binance hit by biggest crypto theft on record

Bitcoin prices experienced a significant drop below $77,000 following Binance's disclosure of a massive security breach. The incident is estimated to have impacted around $6.3 billion in assets. Following the breach, Bitcoin dropped 4.5% in 24 hours, settling at $76,664 by 6am UAE time on Friday, according to The Block. Ether also fell 5.2% to $2,190, while Binance's token, BNB, slid 7.1% to $698.65.

Prices managed to recover somewhat later that morning, with Bitcoin trading at $77,984 by 7.51am UAE time, marking a 2.2% decrease over 24 hours. Ether declined by 3.2% to $2,230, and BNB fell 3.9% to $716.69. Over $1.5 billion of leveraged positions were liquidated in 24 hours, with most bets being on rising prices. Dominick John of Zeus Research noted that the Binance exploit led to intensified market-wide selling, with BNB facing the most significant exposure.

Chainalysis estimated the theft at approximately $5.9 billion, while CoinDesk reported the figure to be around $5.9 billion. TRM Labs linked the attack with high confidence to a North Korean hacking group, identified as TraderTraitor. Around $3 billion has been frozen, including more than $2.3 billion in stablecoins. Binance's co-CEO, Yi He, assured that the exchange would bear all the losses.

Deposits and withdrawals remain suspended. Rick Maeda of Laevitas mentioned that BNB's drop was "quite modest" considering the exchange's massive assets under custody and the prompt action taken by stablecoin issuers in freezing funds. Polymarket, a prediction market, briefly halted trading on Thursday due to reports of unauthorized withdrawals linked to a compromised third-party provider. However, there is no evidence linking the two incidents.