Cryptocurrency giant Binance said on Thursday that it has frozen digital assets worth around $3bn (£2.24bn) to prevent them from being stolen while it investigates a security issue.

The company said as part of a series of alerts online that all deposits and withdrawals are temporarily suspended while its teams conduct security checks and that the firm will “cover all losses”.

Two other major crypto platforms, Tether and Circle, said they have also frozen a total of about $2.4bn of assets in response to the potential Binance hack.

Binance has not said how much was potentially stolen but some crypto experts have put the figure at over $5bn.

The security incident concerns Binance.com, while much smaller crypto platform Binance.US which provides trading services specifically for American residents, said its platform is not affected by the issue.

“It does look like a hack,” Binance’s former boss Changpeng Zhao said on X.

Zhao, who is also known as CZ, no longer manages the firm but remains a key shareholder.

Glassnode, a digital asset advisory firm, estimated the hack concerns a total of $5.3bn in crypto.

Meanwhile, New York-based blockchain analytics firm Chainalysis estimated that more than $5.9bn has been stolen.

That amount is nearly four times the value of crypto stolen from Dubai-based crypto exchange Bybit in 2025 – a record-breaking incident that has been attributed to hackers linked to North Korea.

Binance said the amount of funds frozen may continue to increase as its teams work closely with law enforcement and other partners to trace and seize additional assets.

“We are working around the clock and will share a full post-mortem once the investigation is complete. Please rely only on official Binance channels for updates,” the firm said, adding that users’ funds are safe.

Binance is the world’s largest crypto exchange by daily trading volumes.

Bitcoin dropped by around 5% following the alerts. The price of other major cryptocurrencies including Ethereum and Solana also fell sharply.

Circle chief executive Jeremy Allaire said his firm is “closely tracking reports of a potential exploit involving Binance” and that his company has frozen more than $800m in assets linked to the incident.

Circle is the issuer and co-creator of the USDC, one of the world’s largest US dollar-backed cryptocurrencies.

Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino said his firm has frozen around $1.6bn “related to a potential Binance exchange hack.”

“Protecting the industry and our partners is our main priority,” said Ardoino, whose company issues a cryptocurrency known as USDT.

Several crypto industry observers had flagged concerns about a potential hack on Binance hours before the exchange confirmed the security issue.

Binance, which was founded in China by Zhao in 2017, allows users to trade digital assets and is estimated to have more than 300 million registered users worldwide.

The exchange has been subject of regulatory scrutiny around the world.

The company said in 2024 that it has more than $160bn in assets under custody.