Tether freezes over $1.567 billion in USDT tied to suspected Binance hack

Tether and Circle moved within about an hour to lock up stablecoins after roughly $3.3 billion flowed out of Binance hot wallets on Ethereum Tether has frozen more than 1.567 billion USDT connected to what on-chain analysts are flagging as a possible exploit of Binance. The freeze followed roughly $3.3 billion in outflows from two Binance hot wallets on Ethereum on October 29, 2026. Binance has not confirmed a breach or any actual loss. Forty minutes, billions of dollars The outflows happened fast. The large transfers occurred between 20:24 and 21:04 UTC, a window of about 40 minutes. Etherscan and a number of on-chain analysts flagged the receiving addresses. They labeled them as associated with a potential hack or exploit. Tether responded by blacklisting the wallets tied to the outflow. Reports noted an initial freeze of around $971 million, with the total later rising to more than 1.567 billion USDT. Blacklisting works a bit like a bank cancelling a stolen card. The tokens still sit at the address, but the issuer blocks them from being sent anywhere. Circle took similar action on its side. The USDC issuer froze approximately $823 million in USDC linked to the same activity. Tak...