The cryptocurrency market faced its most significant security crisis this week when Binance, the world's largest crypto exchange, suffered a $6.3 billion hack on Friday morning. On-chain data confirmed the losses, though several entities including Tether froze approximately $3 billion in affected funds.
The breach marked the largest hack in crypto industry history and immediately destabilized markets. Bitcoin declined to a six-week low of $76,400 before recovering slightly. Ethereum fell 7.4% to $2,225, while Solana dropped over 7%. Other major tokens also experienced sharp declines, with XRP sliding 4.5% to $1.25.
The market disruption was severe. Liquidations across derivatives platforms reached $1.5 billion, and more than 235,000 traders were wiped out in a single day. The broader cryptocurrency market cap stood at $2.690 trillion with 24-hour trading volume at $152 billion.
Bitcoin's Turbulent Week
Bitcoin's decline followed a volatile trading week marked by macro events. The asset had initially held above $80,000 support before dipping to a five-week low of $79,100 on Saturday. The Federal Reserve's Wednesday decision to maintain interest rates stable temporarily supported price recovery to $81,800, but momentum proved short-lived.
Prior to the hack, on-chain data showed Bitcoin investors had withdrawn nearly 15,000 units from exchanges in a single day ahead of the Federal Reserve meeting—the largest daily net outflow in five weeks.
Industry Developments
Despite broader market turmoil, several positive developments emerged during the week. Ripple announced that the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency had granted final approval for the establishment of Ripple National Trust Bank. The company also saw its XRP token maintain relative stability during the market downturn.
A security concern emerged for hardware wallet users when Trezor warned customers who purchased devices from CryptoBilis on or after March 2026 to move their funds to a newly created wallet immediately.
Hours before the Binance hack, Polymarket revealed that $2.6 million had been drained from user accounts due to a compromise at an external provider, forcing the platform into cancel-only mode temporarily.
In a significant corporate bitcoin purchase, Strive announced the acquisition of 6,182 Bitcoin units for over $510 million, marking the company's largest bitcoin purchase to date.
