Building products that empower Africa. Founder of @zubatoken & @vivestapp $GTAN • $ZUBA • $WKC
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Joined August 2022
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Am so happy by how far we have come 🫴 , the vision is coming together, soon our studio will be setup
Trust is not earned by what you do in good times , it's earned by what you do in hard times thank you CZ
All of a sudden Crypto Bros are fully back , this hack really united us again , I feel it will lead to the big pump we have all prayed for
Dev. Vicky retweeted
I want to speak to you directly about what happened.
Bottom line - your money is safe, and we're covering every loss.
Our initial investigation suggests this security incident may have started with a compromised DevOps engineer's laptop. That gave an attacker access to a service container, where they submitted unauthorized withdrawal transactions.
To be clear: the attacker did not simply use one engineer's permissions, and this was not a single "one-click" action. It involved a more complex attack process. Our investigation has not attributed responsibility to any individual.
So far, we have found no evidence of any wallet private key leak.
We'll share a detailed technical post-mortem once the investigation is complete and every fact is verified - and publish an updated Proof of Reserves once remediation is complete.
What you need to know:
• Your funds are safe
• Binance will cover all losses from the SAFU fund and company funds
• Estimated total impact: ~$6.3B, with ~$3B frozen on-chain so far, in coordination with our blockchain partners
• No evidence of any wallet private key leak
• Deposits are unaffected and operating as normal
What we've done:
• Temporarily suspended withdrawals while we complete a security revamp of the withdrawal service and its related addresses
• Revoked the affected address authorizations
• Engaged law enforcement and blockchain intelligence partners to trace and recover funds
Our team hasn't stopped. We're working closely with law enforcement to ensure the matter is handled appropriately - and I'll share what I can, as soon as I can.
#BINANCE HACK INVESTIGATION: WHAT HAPPENED ON OCTOBER 29, 2026?
A detailed breakdown of the alleged $6.3 billion security incident, hacker wallets, frozen funds, CZ allegations and Binance's reimbursement commitment.**
Date of report: October 30, 2026
The cryptocurrency industry is facing another major security incident following reports of a significant breach involving Binance-controlled wallets on October 29.
The incident has generated widespread discussion across the crypto community, particularly following reports of billions of dollars in affected assets, emergency freezing actions by stablecoin issuers, and Binance's promise to cover the losses.
But what actually happened? How did the attacker gain access? Where did the stolen funds go? Why are people questioning CZ? And how is Binance planning to compensate affected users?
Let's break everything down.
1. WHAT ACTUALLY HAPPENED?
Binance acknowledged a major security incident on October 30, with its preliminary investigation pointing towards the compromise of a DevOps engineer's laptop.
A DevOps engineer is responsible for maintaining the infrastructure that allows software applications and systems to operate.
According to the preliminary explanation, the attacker allegedly compromised an engineer's laptop, gained access to an internal service environment and used that access to initiate unauthorised transactions.
The reported attack sequence was:
1. An engineer's laptop was compromised.
2. The attacker allegedly gained access to an internal service container.
3. The attacker obtained the ability to submit unauthorised withdrawal transactions.
4. Large amounts of cryptocurrency were transferred out of Binance-controlled wallets.
5. The funds were moved through different wallets and blockchain networks to complicate tracing and recovery.
Binance reportedly stated that there was no evidence that its wallet private keys had been leaked.
This is important because compromising an operational environment and stealing private keys are two different security incidents.
The exact technical vulnerability and the complete access path still require a detailed post-mortem.
2. HOW MUCH WAS AFFECTED?
Binance's reported estimated incident impact stands at approximately $6.3 billion.
Different blockchain investigations initially produced different figures, partly because analysts were tracking different transactions and assets.
The reported figures include:
- Binance's estimated incident impact: approximately $6.3 billion.
- Early on-chain tracking: approximately $5.8 billion.
- Reported frozen assets: approximately $3 billion.
It is important to understand that the estimated incident impact is not necessarily the same as the final unrecoverable loss.
Some assets were reportedly frozen, while Binance has also committed to covering the remaining losses.
Assets reportedly involved
The reported transactions involved multiple cryptocurrencies and blockchain networks, including:
- ETH
- USDT
- USDC
- BTC
- SOL
- XRP
- RLUSD
- TRX
- OP
- LINK
- UNI
- PEPE
- ENA
- WBTC
- XAUt
The incident reportedly affected approximately ten blockchain networks.
3. HACKER WALLETS AND ON-CHAIN MOVEMENTS
One of the most important aspects of this investigation is the movement of the stolen funds.
Blockchain transactions are publicly accessible, allowing investigators to follow the movement of cryptocurrency between addresses.
The following addresses have been identified in the referenced on-chain reporting.
Primary suspected attacker wallet
Address:
0x7c8601d4645b93cea45f71e118a729332e6b5ca0
Etherscan:
etherscan.io/address/0x7c860…
According to the reported investigation, this address received small amounts of ETH from Tornado Cash before the major incident.
The reported preparation activity included:
- October 28: 0.1 ETH withdrawn from Tornado Cash.
- Additional small ETH withdrawals followed.
- October 29: further ETH was transferred to the suspected attacker's wallet.
- A sweeper contract was reportedly deployed.
- Test transactions were conducted before the larger transfers.
This suggests that the attack may have involved preparation before the actual exploitation.
However, the identity of the person or group controlling the address has not been independently established.
Reported secondary wallet holding ETH
Address:
0x8532FA14ACAf483729C449b8458aedDb900543D4
Etherscan:
etherscan.io/address/0x8532F…
CryptoTicker's investigation reported approximately 197,460 ETH at this address, valued at approximately $436 million using its reported valuation.
Reported frozen-funds address
Address:
0x5227f603c1ee34ce3c06efe6477003bdfccb2f8c
Etherscan:
etherscan.io/address/0x5227f…
The investigation reported that this address contained approximately:
- $1.1755 billion in USDT.
- $823 million in USDC.
These assets were reportedly frozen through stablecoin issuer controls.
It is important to distinguish the preparation wallet, the address holding remaining ETH and the address associated with frozen funds. They are not interchangeable.
4. THE EIP-7702 EXPLOIT: HOW THE ATTACKER MOVED THE FUNDS
One of the most technically interesting discoveries involved Ethereum's EIP-7702 functionality.
EIP-7702 allows externally owned accounts to delegate execution authority to smart-contract code.
According to reporting attributed to Blockaid researchers, the attacker reportedly submitted 50 authorisations associated with Binance 14.
Why 50?
The attacker allegedly did not know the exact live transaction nonce of the target wallet.
By preparing multiple authorisations with different nonces, the attacker increased the possibility that one would match the wallet's current nonce.
The reported sequence was:
1. Multiple authorisations were prepared.
2. One reportedly matched the relevant nonce.
3. The wallet became associated with the attacker's delegated execution code.
4. A sweeper function was used to transfer assets.
The reported transaction can be inspected here:
etherscan.io/tx/0x53bd38b816…
Technical documentation:
eips.ethereum.org/EIPS/eip-7…
The most important unanswered question is how the attacker obtained the access needed to create those authorisations.
This is where Binance's preliminary explanation about the compromised engineer's laptop becomes particularly important.
5. HOW WERE THE STOLEN FUNDS FROZEN?
One of the biggest developments was the intervention of stablecoin issuers.
Many people believe cryptocurrency cannot be frozen because blockchain transactions are decentralised.
That is not entirely correct.
Certain centrally issued stablecoins have administrative controls that allow their issuers to blacklist addresses.
The reported participants included:
TETHER (USDT)
Reported frozen amount: approximately $1.567 billion or more.
CIRCLE (USDC)
Reported frozen amount: approximately $823 million or more.
RIPPLE
Reported frozen amount: approximately $200 million.
WORLD LIBERTY FINANCIAL
Reported frozen amount: approximately $27 million in USD1, alongside approximately $2 million in WLFI tokens.
These figures come from reported investigations and should be treated as estimates pending reconciliation.
How does freezing work?
The process generally involves:
1. Investigators identify addresses associated with stolen funds.
2. Blockchain intelligence firms trace the transactions.
3. Evidence is shared with stablecoin issuers and relevant authorities.
4. The issuers use their administrative controls to blacklist the identified addresses.
5. The affected stablecoins become non-transferable through normal token-transfer functions.
For example, when Tether blacklists an address, the affected USDT cannot simply be transferred to another wallet.
However, freezing is not the same as recovering the funds.
The tokens may remain in the frozen wallet until the appropriate legal and recovery procedures are completed.
THE AAVE DEVELOPMENT
Another interesting development involved Aave.
According to the reported on-chain investigation, the attacker deposited approximately $60 million in USDT into Aave and borrowed approximately 19,762 wETH, valued at around $45 million at the time.
The reported sequence was:
- The attacker deposited USDT.
- The attacker borrowed wETH.
- The USDT was subsequently frozen.
- Aave's security team reportedly intervened by freezing affected lending markets.
This illustrates how attackers may attempt to convert assets before the original tokens are frozen.
It does not mean Aave itself was hacked.
6. WHY ARE PEOPLE QUESTIONING CZ?
CZ, the founder of Binance, has naturally become part of the conversation.
Some social-media discussions have questioned Binance's leadership and whether the incident could have involved people with internal knowledge of the exchange.
However, there is an important difference between questioning Binance's security and accusing CZ of participating in the attack.
The preliminary explanation points towards a compromised engineer's laptop.
At the time of this report, the publicly referenced investigations do not establish that CZ orchestrated or participated in the attack.
There is a legitimate question that deserves investigation:
How could an attacker allegedly obtain enough access to authorise withdrawals from major exchange wallets?
That is a serious corporate security question, but it is not evidence of CZ's involvement.
WHAT ABOUT ELON MUSK?
Elon Musk reportedly reacted to the incident with the statement:
"Everyday Is Zeroday."
A zero-day refers to a software vulnerability that is unknown to, or not yet patched by, the affected developer.
The comment has been discussed in the wider cybersecurity conversation.
However, it should not be interpreted as proof that Elon accused CZ of involvement.
7. BINANCE PROMISES TO COVER THE LOSSES
Perhaps the biggest announcement came from Binance itself.
The exchange stated that it would cover all losses associated with the incident using its SAFU emergency protection fund and corporate funds.
This is a major commitment.
WHAT IS SAFU?
SAFU stands for Secure Asset Fund for Users.
It is Binance's emergency protection fund designed to provide an additional layer of protection for users in extreme situations.
The fund has reportedly held approximately $1 billion in Bitcoin.
Binance has indicated that it will use:
1. SAFU emergency reserves.
2. Corporate funds.
If the recovered assets are insufficient, Binance says it will cover the remaining losses.
Official announcement:
binance.com/en/support/annou…
DOES THIS MEAN EVERYONE WILL BE PAID IMMEDIATELY?
Not necessarily.
There are three separate processes:
- Asset recovery: attempting to retrieve the stolen cryptocurrency.
- Financial reimbursement: replacing customer assets through company and emergency reserves.
- Operational recovery: restoring deposits and withdrawals after security checks.
Binance reportedly expected withdrawal services to resume within 48 hours.
However, an expected reopening time is not confirmation that every blockchain network has returned to normal operations.
The actual reimbursement timetable and individual procedures should be confirmed through Binance's official announcements.
8. THE NORTH KOREAN CONNECTION
Another major development involves the suspected identity of the attackers.
According to Reuters, blockchain intelligence firms TRM Labs and Chainalysis attributed the incident to North Korean actors.
TRM Labs reportedly identified similarities with previous attacks associated with North Korean hacking groups.
The reported characteristics included:
- Extensive preparation.
- Complex wallet movements.
- Rapid transfers across different blockchains.
- Use of intermediary addresses.
- Attempts to convert assets before they could be frozen.
The investigation reportedly drew comparisons with the 2025 Bybit hack, which the FBI attributed to North Korea.
This attribution is an intelligence assessment.
Dev. Vicky retweeted
User funds are safe!
It does look like a hack on Binance. Appreciate the quick freeze from Tether (~$971m) and Circle (~$823m).
I don't manage Binance (.com) anymore, but as a shareholder, I expect all user funds will be fully covered.
The more we build the more ideas come in
One of the testers just shared one mad idea with us today !!
Soon our games will available for the general public
Dev. Vicky retweeted
Play games, score points, and turn your points into $ZUBA. Every game brings you closer to earning!
