Chainalysis traced the Binance hack and calculated how much money the attacker managed to move out. He transferred about $325 million into other assets to bypass the freezes. Another roughly $2.8 billion related to the incident has been frozen.
What kind of company this is. Chainalysis tracks the movement of coins across the blockchain. It works with exchanges and regulators.
Why this matters to a trader. Binance temporarily halted withdrawals. At such a moment, access to money on the exchange can disappear for hours.
Where did the money go?
The headline figure in the report is $325 million. This sum passed through swaps of some tokens for others.
This is a standard technique. It is needed to break the chain and prevent stablecoin issuers from freezing the address.
Stablecoins are coins whose rate is pegged to the dollar.
- $325 million - transferred into other assets to bypass freezes
- $2.8 billion - frozen thanks to the industry's counter-response
Why did it all happen so fast?
The money was moved by a script, not a person. Chainalysis notes that the transfers followed a pattern resembling automated money laundering.
Speed decides everything here. The faster assets change form, the lower the chance they can be frozen in time.
What is known about the incident itself?
- Three accounts. The outflow came from at least three accounts.
- The link between them. Two accounts were linked through wallet access rights, including delegation under the EIP-7702 standard.
- Minutes to withdraw. One flagged wallet was emptied within a matter of minutes.
- Pause on the exchange. Binance temporarily halted withdrawals and stated that user funds were safe.
What does this mean for a trader?
Coins on an exchange are an entry in the platform's database. At the moment of an incident, access to it can disappear for hours.
The main takeaway: next we watch the restoration of withdrawals and how much of the $2.8 billion can be recovered.
If you trade crypto on someone else's capital, check the terms of the platforms in the prop firm catalog. The rules on exchanges and coins differ from one to another.
Were you stuck in a position while withdrawals were paused?
The worst part on days like this isn't the drawdown. What's worse is that you can't do anything with your money while the withdrawal button isn't responding. That's why in crypto it's important to know in advance where your trading capital sits and by what rules you manage it. In prop programs this is spelled out rigidly: the list of platforms and coins, volume limits, how drawdown is calculated on a day of a sharp dump. The difference between programs is easier to see right away than to run into a disabled account in the middle of a story like this.