Bitcoin falls to US$76,300 as Binance hack deepens crypto selloff
Bitcoin hit a more than one-month low as a record Binance theft compounded market pressure from tech shares, options expiry and liquidated bullish positions.
Bitcoin’s slide below US$77,000 brought two sources of pressure together: a market already retreating from risk and fresh doubts about the security of assets held by large crypto exchanges. The token fell as much as 3.1 per cent on Friday, reaching US$76,300, its lowest level in more than a month.
The trigger sharpening those concerns was a record theft at Binance. Attackers took more than US$6 billion, according to the source account, putting the exchange’s safeguards and its capacity to absorb losses under scrutiny. The scale matters beyond Binance: confidence in custody is part of the infrastructure that supports trading across the wider crypto market.
Binance said on Friday it had reserved US$6.34 billion of company funds after the incident. That figure gives investors a measure of the resources the exchange says it has set aside, while leaving questions about how the breach occurred and what further costs or operational effects may follow. Binance held more than US$135 billion of assets on its platform, making the incident’s scale particularly striking.
The company’s response has not stopped the market from reassessing risk. Binance’s BNB token fell about 5 per cent over 24 hours to around US$700, while other tokens also declined, including some affected by the breach. Price moves across multiple assets suggest the reaction was not confined to the exchange’s own token.
A crowded set of pressures
The hack landed during a weak stretch for crypto prices. Bitcoin had spent much of the week near US$80,000, but broader market forces were already weighing on sentiment. Futures tied to the tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 were down 2.4 per cent ahead of the market open after disappointing earnings reports from Amazon.com and Intel.
That connection matters because crypto assets can be caught in wider shifts in appetite for risk. When investors pull back from technology shares and other volatile assets, digital tokens may face additional selling even when the immediate catalyst is specific to crypto. In this case, the exchange breach added a sector-specific concern to an already cautious market.
Trading mechanics may have added to the speed of the move. About US$11 billion worth of options on Deribit were due to expire on Friday. A large expiry can leave traders adjusting positions as contracts reach their end date; alongside the existing risk-off mood, that may have made prices more sensitive to selling. The source gives the expiry’s size but does not establish how much of Friday’s decline it caused.
Coinglass data showed about US$1.3 billion worth of bullish cryptocurrency positions wiped out over a 24-hour period. Such liquidations can intensify a downturn: when leveraged positions fall below required thresholds, they may be closed automatically, adding more sell orders to a falling market. The figure captures the scale of positions removed, though it does not by itself explain the full decline or show how much exposure remains.
Confidence and capacity under scrutiny
Jeff Ko, chief analyst at ViaBTC, said the broader market was already leaning bearish, helping the selloff spread quickly. He added that Binance could absorb the losses. That view points to a distinction investors will be watching: the exchange may have resources to cover the financial hit, but its ability to do so does not resolve questions about the security controls that failed.
Noelle Acheson, writer of the Crypto is Macro Now newsletter, said repeated damage to crypto infrastructure could deter people from entering the market. She described concerns spanning self-custody, exchange custody and AI bot attacks on online security. Her warning speaks to the choices users face when holding digital assets: keeping tokens with an exchange brings platform risk, while managing private keys directly brings its own security demands.
Acheson also argued that each breach can lead to stronger security. That possibility depends on how exchanges and other service providers respond: whether they identify weaknesses, improve controls and show customers that assets are being protected. For users and businesses that rely on crypto platforms, the consequences include more than short-term prices. Confidence can affect whether customers keep assets on an exchange and whether new participants choose to enter.
The immediate picture is therefore mixed. Binance has disclosed a substantial reserve, but the incident has intensified questions about custody at a platform holding more than US$135 billion in assets. Bitcoin’s fall also reflects pressures beyond the hack, including weaker technology futures, a sizable options expiry and heavy liquidations. What happens next will depend in part on how clearly the exchange addresses the breach and whether broader market selling eases.
