Major Crypto Market Turmoil: Bitcoin Drops Below $77,000 Amid Binance Hack

Bitcoin and BNB Slide

What Happened at Binance

North Korea Suspected

Analysts See Limited Fallout

Bitcoin Dips Below $77,000 Amidst $6.3 Billion Binance Hack

Late Thursday, Bitcoin’s value plummeted below $77,000, driven by a staggering $6.3 billion hack at Binance, the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange, triggering a widespread market sell-off.

As of 10:00 p.m. ET Thursday, Bitcoin’s price had dropped 4.5% to $76,664, according to data from The Block. The native token of the Binance ecosystem, BNB, suffered an even steeper decline, losing 7.1% to $698.65. Other major cryptocurrencies also felt the impact, with Ethereum sliding 5.2% and XRP falling 7%.

The fallout from the hack was significant, with liquidations across the crypto markets reaching a staggering $1.55 billion in just 24 hours. Of that total, $1.34 billion came from long positions, as reported by CoinGlass.

Dominick John, an analyst at Zeus Research, commented, “The Binance exploit has intensified market-wide selling, with BNB facing the greatest exposure. About $1.5 billion in 24-hour liquidations, predominantly long positions, has amplified pressure on BTC and ETH.”

What Happened at Binance

Binance confirmed that approximately $6.3 billion in digital assets were affected by the breach, with around $3 billion frozen on-chain so far. Stablecoin issuers Tether and Circle acted swiftly, freezing a combined $2.4 billion in assets linked to the theft.

Co-CEO Richard Teng revealed that the incident may have originated from a compromised DevOps engineer’s laptop, which allowed the attacker unauthorized access to a service container used for withdrawals. In a direct message to users on X, Teng reassured them, stating, “Bottom line – your money is safe, and we’re covering every loss.” He emphasized that there was no evidence of a wallet private key leak and that losses would be covered from the SAFU fund and company reserves. Withdrawals have been temporarily suspended as the exchange revamps its withdrawal services, although deposits remain operational.

North Korea Suspected

Blockchain analytics firms TRM Labs and Chainalysis have linked the attack to TraderTraitor, a North Korean hacking unit. TRM Labs noted that several elements of this incident mirrored previous North Korean-linked hacks, including the $1.5 billion Bybit hack in 2025, which this attack now surpasses as the largest on record.

While Binance did not directly address questions regarding potential North Korean involvement, they stated, “We are working closely with our law enforcement partners to confirm the identity of these criminals and bring them to justice.”

Analysts See Limited Fallout

Despite the magnitude of the theft, analysts believe the fallout may be limited. Rick Maeda, head of markets at Laevitas, described BNB’s drop as “quite modest for possibly the largest exchange theft ever.” He pointed to Binance’s substantial $144 billion in assets under custody and the prompt actions taken by Tether and Circle as reasons the industry has avoided widespread panic.

Jeff Ko, chief analyst at ViaBTC, echoed this sentiment, stating, “I don’t expect the stolen BTC to add much selling pressure. The broader crypto market was already leaning bearish, which is why the sell-off spread so quickly across the board.”

As the crypto community grapples with the implications of this unprecedented hack, the resilience of the market will be put to the test in the coming days.