Bitcoin demonstrated relative stability in the aftermath of the $6.3 billion Binance hack, the largest cryptocurrency exploit on record, according to Strive CEO Matt Cole. Bitcoin traded near $77,400 on Saturday, approximately 4% below its price before the attack began Thursday.
Cole said the breach had not altered his long-term investment thesis for Bitcoin, comparing the attack on Binance's systems to a bank robbery rather than a network failure. "I do have conviction that over any reasonable time frame, this does not change the investment thesis on Bitcoin," Cole stated.
The decline proved less severe than Cole expected given the scale of the breach and broader market weakness, though he acknowledged it remained too early to determine whether prices had reached a bottom. Cole characterized the market as being in an "early spring" recovery phase that could extend six to nine months, with gradual price increases rather than sharp rallies.
Paul Chapman, financial crime director at Wirex, reinforced this distinction: "It's important to be clear that Bitcoin itself hasn't been hacked — this was an attack on one company's systems, not the network."
Historical Context
According to Glassnode, Thursday's Binance breach exceeded the combined losses from the next nine largest cryptocurrency hacks. The previous record was the $1.5 billion Bybit exploit in February 2025. Three of the 10 largest crypto hacks have occurred since the beginning of 2025, all involving exchanges.
Following the Bybit hack, Bitcoin fell roughly 5% from nearly $100,000 to around $95,000. Anchorage Digital data cited by CNBC indicated Bitcoin's average decline in the first 24 hours after previous cryptocurrency exchange exploits was 8.3%.
Technical Analysis
Blockaid CEO Ido Ben-Natan said the attackers appeared to have compromised Binance's transaction signing process. Binance reported Friday that it had found no evidence of leaked wallet private keys, though its investigation remained ongoing.
Blockaid's analysis identified an Ethereum transaction containing 50 signed authorizations covering different transaction counts, with a matching authorization allowing attacker-controlled code to operate through the wallet. Ben-Natan argued that additional checks before signing could have prevented the malicious authorization.
Strive, a publicly traded company, reported holding 43,000 BTC as of October 23.
