Bitcoin whipsaws below $79,000 as Binance hot wallet reportedly drained by Tornado Cash-linked wallet

Bitcoin hit an intraday low of $78,297 on Binance spot on Oct. 29 and sat near $79,126 at press time, as large transfers left Binance-labeled wallets.Binance shared on X that the exchange is “aware of reports of a potential security issue and are actively investigating.”It added:“Our security teams are reviewing all relevant information with urgency, and we will provide updates through official Binance channels as soon as we have verified information.”Former CEO Changpeng Zhao went further on X, arguing that “it does look like a hack on Binance.”Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino confirmed that the firm froze roughly $1.57 billion related to the potential hack, while Circle froze about $823 million.What the chain showsWhale Alert recorded 28,005 ETH, about $64.9 million, leaving a Binance-labeled wallet at 20:24:47 UTC, and 780 million USDC leaving another at 20:41:23 UTC. Both went to the same new address.At 20:38:47 UTC, the receiving address forwarded 195,460 ETH, about $449 million, to a second address.On-chain watchers circulated a total close to $2.8 billion across five chains, and the full figure remains unreconciled.Analyst Spreek first flagged the activity, noting that the contract ...