Crypto · $BTC/USD
Bitcoin Hits Six-Week Low and Crypto Stocks Slide as Binance Targets Sunday Withdrawal Restart
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Binance says it found more breach points and has reserved over $6.34 billion to cover losses, as Coinbase and Strategy shares fall.
By Emmanuel Cruz ·
Bitcoin fell to its lowest level in six weeks on Friday and shares of crypto-linked companies tumbled, as fallout from the record $6.3 billion theft at Binance combined with a broad selloff in technology stocks [1][2]. Binance, meanwhile, said its investigation had uncovered a wider breach than first thought and that it aims to reopen customer withdrawals by Sunday [3].
Bitcoin dropped to an overnight low of about $76,400, its weakest level since Sept. 18, CoinDesk reported early Friday [1]. It was trading about 2.4% lower, near $76,900, late in the U.S. stock session, according to Investing.com [4]. The AP noted that bitcoin had traded above $86,000 earlier in October [2]. Ether briefly fell to about $2,170 before recovering toward $2,220, and BNB, the token tied to Binance, lost 6.2%, the largest decline among major coins at the time [1].
Leverage amplified the move. Liquidations of crypto futures positions rose about fourfold to $1.57 billion, with bitcoin accounting for $522 million and ether for $361 million, according to CoinDesk [1]. Open interest, the value of outstanding futures contracts, fell 3% to $136.3 billion, while trading volume rose 74% [1].
Stocks tied to digital assets fell further than the broader market. Coinbase shares dropped 13.6% despite quarterly results that were stronger than expected, and Strategy, the largest corporate holder of bitcoin, fell 8.3%, the AP reported [2]. The AP also said Strategy's chief financial officer will resign next week for personal reasons [2]. Yahoo Finance reported that Circle and Robinhood were among the crypto-related stocks that fell more than 6% before the opening bell [5].
Binance offered new details on the attack. Co-CEO Richard Teng said investigators had found additional points of breach beyond the employee laptop first suspected, and that the attackers used a self-destruct mechanism to erase evidence [3]. He said they also used EIP-7702, an Ethereum account-delegation feature, to take control of a hot wallet without going through the exchange's normal approval process [3]. "This was a complex attack," Teng said, adding that the full sequence of events had not yet been established [3].
Teng said the exchange hopes to resume withdrawals by Sunday while it rebuilds and tests its systems, including cloud infrastructure, employee devices, private-key management and transaction signing [3]. Binance plans to publish an initial proof-of-reserves update, followed by a full report on Monday [3]. The company has committed to covering all losses with its own funds and said it has reserved more than $6.34 billion, including about $5 billion already held in the affected tokens, with the rest being acquired on exchanges and in over-the-counter markets [3].
Some questions remain open. Teng said the attack targeted Binance's own hot wallet rather than customer funds, but a CoinDesk review of the exchange's reserve data found that the compromised wallets had previously been listed among assets backing customer balances [3]. Blockchain analytics firms TRM Labs and Elliptic have linked the theft to North Korea-affiliated hackers, and about $3 billion of the stolen proceeds has been frozen, CoinDesk reported [1].
The effects have reached decentralized finance as well. Lending protocol Aave froze lending markets across 16 networks after the attacker borrowed about $44.6 million of ether against stolen USDT, according to CoinDesk [1].
The pressure on crypto comes alongside a rough day for risk assets generally. The Nasdaq Composite fell 2.9% on Friday as worries about artificial intelligence spending hit technology shares [2][4].
What to watch next: whether Binance meets its Sunday target for reopening withdrawals and how much money customers move off the platform once it does, the contents of Monday's full proof-of-reserves report, whether more stolen funds can be frozen, and whether crypto prices keep moving in step with technology stocks [1][3][2].
Sources:
[1] CoinDesk, "Crypto liquidations jump to $1.57 billion as Binance hack sends bitcoin, ether lower", October 30, 2026. https://www.coindesk.com/markets/2026/10/30/crypto-liquidations-jump-to-usd1-57-billion-as-binance-hack-sends-bitcoin-ether-lower
[2] The Associated Press, "Wall Street tumbles to its worst day since June after the sell-off for tech stocks deepens", October 30, 2026. https://www.fox8live.com/2026/10/30/wall-street-tumbles-its-worst-day-since-june-after-sell-off-tech-stocks-deepens/
[3] CoinDesk, "Binance uncovers wider breach in $6.3 billion exploit, targets Sunday withdrawal restart", October 30, 2026. https://www.coindesk.com/tech/2026/10/30/binance-uncovers-wider-breach-in-usd6-3-billion-exploit-targets-sunday-withdrawal-restart
[4] Investing.com, "Nasdaq slides over 5% for worst month since March 2025 as AI trade suffers", October 30, 2026. https://www.investing.com/news/stock-market-news/us-stock-futures-sink-nasdaq-down-2-as-amazon-intel-earnings-underwhelm-4985675
[5] Yahoo Finance, "Stock market today: Nasdaq, Dow, S&P 500 clobbered as October closes with brutal sell-off", October 30, 2026. https://finance.yahoo.com/markets/live/stock-market-today-friday-october-30-dow-sp-500-nasdaq-amazon-intel-ai-sell-off-191429143.html
This article was produced with AI assistance. It is for informational purposes only and is not financial advice. StockVolt and its authors may hold positions in securities mentioned.