The biggest number in the Binance story is not the loss. It is the roughly $2.3 billion that Tether and Circle froze within hours of the funds moving, because only some of the assets involved have an issuer who can freeze them.

As of 07:30 WIB on 30 October 2026, Binance has acknowledged a "potential security issue", paused withdrawals on multiple networks, and not stated a total loss. Public estimates run from about $2.8 billion to about $5.8 billion, and they measure different things.

The incident lands 12 days before Web3 Week Asia, the crypto and blockchain event in Jakarta on 11-12 November 2026. For Indonesia crypto users the practical question is narrower than the headline: who supervises the platform that holds your coins?

What happened. Funds left Binance hot wallets on 29 October 2026 in a sweep that Cryptoticker, reading Etherscan data, places at 20:24 UTC (03:24 WIB on 30 October). Binance describes a "potential security issue" and says it is investigating.

Frozen. Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino said Tether froze more than 1.567 billion USDT. Circle CEO Jeremy Allaire said Circle froze more than $800 million in USDC. CoinDesk puts the combined total above $2.3 billion. Binance co-CEO Yi He said Ripple froze about $200 million in RLUSD (Decrypt).

Estimated outflows. From about $2.8 billion (Cryptoticker, Etherscan data) to about $5.8 billion (Arkham tally, reported by BleepingComputer and CoinDesk). None of these is a confirmed theft figure.

Binance's position. Binance says user funds are "completely safe" (TechCrunch). Founder Changpeng Zhao, who no longer runs the company, said Binance "will cover" losses (CoinDesk). Binance has not said whether it will use its SAFU reserve of roughly $1 billion (CoinDesk).

Market. Bitcoin fell about 2.5% to 4% to between $78,500 and $79,100 across reports (Gizmodo, CoinDesk, Decrypt, JKN). BNB fell about 6.7% (Gizmodo, CoinDesk).

What is confirmed, and what is not

On-chain records and named officials give a firm core. The transactions and their timing are visible on Etherscan. Tether and Circle executives stated their freeze figures publicly. Binance paused withdrawals and said it is investigating.

Everything else is estimate. Binance has not used the word "hack" in the statements quoted by the outlets checked, and has not published a loss figure. Zhao wrote that it "does look like a hack on Binance", which is his reading, not a company finding. Blockaid CEO Ido Ben-Natan told CoinDesk it is "the biggest crypto hack in history"; the previous record cited by TechCrunch and Gizmodo is the roughly $1.4 to $1.5 billion Bybit theft of 2025.

Why some money could be frozen and some could not

Tether and Circle can blacklist addresses for their own tokens. Bitcoin and ether have no issuer, so nobody can make that call. The distinction matters because the tracked holdings were mixed. BleepingComputer reports Arkham tracking 55 addresses holding about $5.78 billion, including roughly $1.44 billion in bitcoin and $876 million in ether next to about $1.77 billion in USDT and $823 million in USDC. CoinDesk's snapshot showed about $1.5 billion in bitcoin and $900 million in ether.

Taking only the two issuer freezes, about $2.37 billion is roughly 85% of the lowest outflow estimate and roughly 41% of the highest. The estimates differ too much for one share, but the freezes covered a large part of what moved, not all of it.

DeFi reacted too: Aave froze its V3 markets on Ethereum mainnet to block further borrowing (Decrypt, The Block).

A valid signature, not a broken exchange

Cryptoticker and tech-ish both describe the same mechanism. The attacker submitted an EIP-7702 delegation for the hot wallet "Binance 14" at 20:20:59 UTC, then called their own contract to move funds. That delegation only takes effect if signed with the wallet's private key.

So the reported weak point is control over a signing key or signing system, not trading software. Neither source establishes how the signature was obtained.

The honest counterweight

The cause is not established. A stolen key, a manipulated signing system or an insider are all listed as possibilities by Cryptoticker; none is proven, and no group has claimed responsibility.

The loss is not established. Estimates mix wallet balances, transfers and attacker holdings. Cryptoticker notes some outflows on other chains may not belong to the attack at all.

Freezing is not recovery. JKN notes a freeze stops movement but does not return assets to victims. One timeline (tech-ish) reports about $700 million in USDT left the receiving address before the freeze and was largely swapped into ETH; that figure has one source.

Indonesia crypto: who protects the user

On 3 May 2021, Tongam L. Tobing, chairman of OJK's Investment Alert Task Force, told CNBC Indonesia that Binance could not conduct business in Indonesia without a licence from the competent authority. He added that unlicensed firms are not supervised in Indonesia and that user protection cannot be guaranteed. Binance's current status in Indonesia was not re-verified in the sources checked, and no Indonesian regulator statement on this incident was found as of 07:30 WIB.

Binance is linked to the Indonesian market through Tokocrypto. According to Blockchainmedia.id, Binance became its majority shareholder in 2020 and acquired all shares in 2022, and Cointelegraph reported Tokocrypto received a Bappebti physical crypto trader licence on 9 September 2024. The reported outflows came from Binance's own hot wallets; no source checked links the incident to Tokocrypto, and no Tokocrypto statement on it was found.

OJK data adds a user-side risk. OJK recorded five incidents in the digital asset ecosystem in August and September 2026, involving phishing, fake customer service and social engineering (Okezone and Tokocrypto News, 22 and 24 October 2026). Binance's own warning against unofficial links and requests for account data points at the same category.

Web3 Week Asia 2026: blockchain event in Jakarta, 11-12 November

Web3 Week Asia takes place on 11-12 November 2026 in Jakarta, 12 days after the 30 October 2026 date of this article. According to the organisers, the 2025 edition drew more than 5,000 participants, over 100 speakers and more than 200 companies from more than 10 countries.

The 2026 programme is organised in four tracks: Investor Meetups, Alpha Callers, Web3 Entrepreneur and Indonesia Crypto Outlook 2026. The speaker line-up is to be announced, so whether this incident is discussed on stage is not known.

Frequently asked questions

When and where is Web3 Week Asia 2026?

Web3 Week Asia 2026 takes place on 11-12 November 2026 in Jakarta, Indonesia. It is a two-day crypto and blockchain event covering markets, regulation, infrastructure and venture investment across Southeast Asia.

What happened at Binance on 29 October 2026?

Funds left Binance hot wallets, Binance paused withdrawals and said it is investigating a "potential security issue". Binance says user funds are safe. The loss and the cause were not confirmed as of 07:30 WIB on 30 October 2026.

How much was taken from Binance?

No confirmed figure exists. Public estimates range from about $2.8 billion to about $5.8 billion and measure different things. Tether and Circle together froze more than $2.3 billion.

Are Indonesian users affected?

No source checked reports Indonesian user losses or an Indonesian regulator statement as of 07:30 WIB. OJK said in 2021 that Binance could not operate in Indonesia without a licence, and that protection cannot be guaranteed for users of unlicensed firms.

Why can Tether and Circle freeze funds?

They issue USDT and USDC and can blacklist addresses for those tokens. Bitcoin and ether have no issuer, so no one can freeze them the same way.

Sources

CoinDesk, report on the Binance incident, 29 October 2026: https://www.coindesk.com/business/2026/10/29/potential-multi-billion-binance-hack-hitting-crypto-markets

CNBC Indonesia, OJK statement on Binance, 3 May 2021: https://www.cnbcindonesia.com/tech/20210503142935-37-242719/tak-berizin-binance-dilarang-beroperasi-di-indonesia

Freeze figures: Tether and Circle executives as reported by CoinDesk, The Block, TechCrunch and BleepingComputer, 29-30 October 2026. Outflow estimates: Cryptoticker (Etherscan data), BleepingComputer and CoinDesk (Arkham), 29-30 October 2026. Mechanism: Cryptoticker and tech-ish, 29-30 October 2026. Ripple freeze: Decrypt and JKN, 29-30 October 2026. Bitcoin and BNB moves: Gizmodo, CoinDesk, Decrypt and JKN, 29-30 October 2026. Tokocrypto ownership and licence: Blockchainmedia.id and Cointelegraph. OJK incident count: Okezone and Tokocrypto News, 22 and 24 October 2026.

Methodology: The freeze total adds Tether's 1.567 billion and Circle's 800 million, giving about 2.37 billion, and divides it by the lowest (2.8 billion) and highest (5.8 billion) outflow estimates to get about 85% and about 41%. Outflow estimates were not summed because they overlap and count different things (transfers, tracked balances, attacker holdings). Price moves are given as ranges because the outlets captured different times. Times converted from UTC to WIB (UTC+7). Excluded: the unrelated Polymarket third-party incident, and any claim with only one source unless attributed.

This article is for information only and is not investment advice