Bitcoin drops below $77,000 after record $6 billion Binance hack

Bitcoin fell below $77,000 for the first time in more than a month on Friday, following a record security breach at Binance that resulted in the theft of more than $6 billion on October 29. The cryptocurrency declined by as much as 3.1% to $76,300, while Binance's BNB token fell about 5% over 24 hours to around $700. Other digital assets, including tokens affected by the breach, also recorded losses.

The October 29 breach involved the theft of more than $6 billion in cryptocurrency from digital wallets held at Binance, making it the largest cryptocurrency theft on record. The attack reportedly exploited an engineer's laptop, allowing hackers to access a service container and initiate unauthorised withdrawal transactions. The scale of the reported theft has raised questions about the exchange's security measures and its ability to protect customer assets.

Market Impact And Industry Reaction

Binance disclosed on Friday that it had reserved $6.34 billion in company funds following the incident. Binance holds more than $135 billion in assets on its platform, according to data from DefiLlama. Ko added that Binance could absorb the losses.

The selloff came as cryptocurrencies were already under pressure from wider financial market conditions and investor concerns about riskier assets. Futures on the Nasdaq 100 fell 2.4% ahead of the market open following disappointing earnings reports from companies including Amazon.com Inc. and Intel Corp. The scale of the reported heist exceeds the $3.4 billion lost to cryptocurrency thefts across the entire industry in 2025, according to Chainalysis.