Bitcoin slid below $77,000 late Thursday as a reported security breach involving Binance added pressure to an already fragile cryptocurrency market, triggering more than $1.5 billion in leveraged-position liquidations over 24 hours.
BTC fell 4.5% to $76,664 by 10:00 p.m. ET, according to market data supplied with the report. Separate pricing data put Bitcoin at $77,045.50, down 2.55%, illustrating the rapid intraday swings that followed the initial decline.
The sell-off extended across major tokens. BNB dropped 7.1% to $698.65, Ether lost 5.2% to $2,190, and XRP fell 7% to $1.21. Solana traded near $94.83, down 2.08%, while Chainlink declined 4.59% to $10.62. PYTH was among the harder-hit smaller tokens, falling 8.49% to about $0.0595.
Liquidations concentrated in bullish positions
CoinGlass recorded $1.55 billion in cryptocurrency liquidations during the previous 24 hours, affecting 246,482 traders. Long positions - trades placed on the expectation that prices would rise - accounted for $1.34 billion of that total.
That imbalance suggests the decline was intensified by forced selling rather than driven solely by spot-market holders choosing to exit. When a leveraged long position falls below an exchange's required collateral threshold, the platform automatically closes it. Those sales can push prices lower, setting off further liquidations in a feedback loop.
The largest single liquidation identified by CoinGlass was an $11.09 million Bitcoin-USDT order on Binance. Such large closures can deepen short-term volatility, particularly when liquidity thins during a sharp market move.
Bitcoin's move below $77,000 came after a period in which traders had accumulated substantial exposure to higher prices. The source material put outstanding open interest, a measure of active derivatives positions, near $37 billion before the downturn. Open interest alone does not show whether traders are bullish or bearish, but the scale of long liquidations indicates that many positions were vulnerable to a drop.
Binance breach report adds a new risk factor
The market decline coincided with Binance's investigation into a hack that drew attention to sizable fund outflows. Chainalysis estimated that roughly $5.9 billion had been stolen at the time of the theft, according to the figures cited in the report.
Binance subsequently said that approximately $3 billion had been verified and frozen. The difference between an initial theft estimate and frozen assets can change as investigators trace funds through wallets, bridges, decentralized finance protocols, and exchanges.
Yi He, Binance co-founder, said the exchange would cover user losses resulting from the hack. The pledge places the immediate financial burden on Binance rather than affected account holders, though the incident may still prompt users to reassess how much of their cryptocurrency they keep on centralized trading platforms.
Brian Armstrong, chief executive officer of Coinbase, said the company was blocking transfers to compromised wallets as part of the response. Exchanges can restrict known addresses once blockchain investigators and affected firms identify them, limiting the ability of attackers to convert or move stolen funds through major trading venues.
Stablecoin issuers joined efforts to contain stolen assets
Tether froze $1.57 billion in funds linked to the theft, while Circle locked about $800 million, according to the figures provided. Both companies issue centrally managed stablecoins and can freeze tokens at designated blockchain addresses when required by their compliance and security processes.
The ability to halt token transfers creates a practical response tool during major thefts, especially when stolen assets include USDT or USDC. It can also complicate laundering attempts, since stablecoins are frequently used to move value between exchanges and blockchain networks.
Freezing funds does not necessarily mean assets are immediately returned. Recovery normally depends on identifying the wallets, securing evidence, coordinating with platforms that hold or receive the funds, and navigating legal processes across jurisdictions. Yet the reported scale of the freezes suggests a substantial portion of the alleged theft may have become harder to move.
Traders face a market shaped by leverage and security fears
The price reaction shows how quickly a security event can spread through derivatives markets when traders are carrying large leveraged positions. A hack does not need to affect every major token directly to trigger selling: uncertainty over exchange operations, withdrawals, market liquidity, and counterparty exposure can lead traders to reduce risk across Bitcoin, Ether, and other liquid assets.
The immediate market damage was concentrated in long positions, meaning the downturn punished traders who had borrowed funds to bet on continued gains. That structure can make rebounds uneven. Prices may stabilize after the most vulnerable leveraged positions are closed, but additional selling can emerge if holders move assets off exchanges or if new details from the investigation alter estimates of the losses.
Binance's commitment to cover affected users and the reported freezes by Tether, Circle, and Coinbase address the most urgent operational concerns. The market's next test will be whether those containment efforts reduce pressure on exchange balances and prevent the theft from creating further forced selling.
Worried by Binance’s hack and BTC’s drop? Learn how to recover from a crypto hack and protect yourself.
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