The market this morning

Binance investigates multibillion-dollar hack as crypto markets fall

By Crypto Info News

Good morning. Binance said on Thursday it was investigating a potential security breach after suspicious transfers from its wallets, according to Cointelegraph. The scale of the outflows is disputed. The Block reported suspicious outflows of up to $5.8 billion from Binance hot wallets. Decrypt put an on-chain tally at $5.57 billion across three blockchains. Both outlets reported that Tether and Circle froze stablecoins — The Block said $1.79 billion in USDT and USDC, Decrypt said $1.8 billion. Cointelegraph reported that co-founder CZ put the frozen sum at nearly $1.8 billion.

The movement of funds was still being tracked through the day. Decrypt reported that Etherscan records showed wallets tied to the suspected hack swapping freezable stablecoins for Ethereum on decentralised exchanges, with some DeFi venues pausing markets.

Prices fell as the reports spread. Cointelegraph reported the broader crypto market down 3.3%, with Bitcoin and Ether both lower. CoinDesk reported BNB down 6% in the hour it published; Cointelegraph's headline cited a 7% fall. In the market snapshot at the close, BNB stood at $697.11, down 8.16% over 24 hours. Bitcoin was at $77,838.81, down 4.22%. Ether was at $2,249.48, down 4.58%. XRP fell 6.71% to $1.24.

A second incident hit prediction markets. Cointelegraph reported that Polymarket suspended trading after saying a third-party provider had been compromised. The Block reported that over $2.5 million was lost within minutes and that the platform placed its exchange in cancel-only mode, citing a $2.65 million exploit.

Quarterly results arrived against this backdrop. The Block reported Strategy posted $19.53 billion in Q3 net income on a $20.91 billion bitcoin gain, holding 848,517 BTC, and moved its preferred shares to daily dividends. Decrypt reported Coinbase swung to $719 million in third-quarter net income, driven largely by gains on its crypto holdings, with revenue flat at $1.22 billion.

What to watch: Binance's findings and any confirmation of the outflow figure; the status of the frozen stablecoins; Polymarket's return from cancel-only mode; and November 11, when DL News reported MSCI will name companies facing possible index exclusion, Strategy among those at risk.