Crypto Market Loses $360 Billion as Binance Hack Deepens Sell-Off

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The cryptocurrency market lost $360 billion in October 2026, as a major Binance security breach, Federal Reserve interest-rate uncertainty and technology stock selling weighed on digital assets. Bitcoin fell 4.7% and Ethereum dropped 5.9%, while traders faced widespread forced liquidations.

In its October 30 security update, Binance estimated the breach’s impact at $6.3 billion. The exchange said: “User funds are safe.” It reported no evidence of leaked wallet private keys and temporarily suspended withdrawals while conducting security checks.

Binance Investigates Security Breach

Binance said its initial investigation pointed to a potentially compromised engineer’s laptop, allowing unauthorised withdrawal transactions. The exchange revoked affected authorisations and worked with blockchain partners to freeze approximately $3 billion in assets.

In its October 31 recovery update, Binance reported that 90% of affected assets had been replenished.

It stated: “Binance will absorb the financial impact of these stolen funds, not our users.”

The company allocated more than $6.34 billion for recovery, drawing on corporate funds, its Secure Asset Fund for Users (SAFU) and its Futures Insurance Fund.

Cryptocurrency Prices and Institutional Outflows

CoinGlass derivatives data recorded $1.57 billion in liquidations during the 48-hour sell-off, predominantly affecting leveraged long positions.

Institutional selling compounded the pressure. Market-flow figures showed $643 million in single-day spot Bitcoin ETF outflows, including $234 million from BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin Trust.

Spot Ethereum products experienced withdrawals totalling $156 million over multiple days.

Digital Asset	Reported Crash Low
Bitcoin (BTC)	$76,400
Ethereum (ETH)	$2,170
Binance Coin (BNB)	$697