$6.3B Binance Hack and Bitcoin Falls Below $77,000: Weekly Recap

It was a rough week for crypto investors, marked by a massive hack, a key central bank decision, and falling prices. Here's what you need to know.

The big story: Binance got hacked for $6.3 billion. On October 29, hackers drained around $6.36 billion from Binance (one of the world's largest crypto exchanges) across ten blockchains (the digital networks where crypto transactions are recorded). The attack reportedly started with a hacked laptop belonging to one of Binance's engineers.

Investigators — and later the FBI — linked the attack to TraderTraitor, a hacking group from North Korea. The FBI published hundreds of wallet addresses tied to the theft and urged the industry to block those transactions.

Some of the stolen money was recovered quickly:

• Tether froze over 1.56 billion USDT (a stablecoin — a crypto pegged to the US dollar)
• Circle froze over 800 million USDC (another dollar-pegged stablecoin)
• In total, around $3 billion was frozen

Hackers managed to convert about $325 million into Ethereum (ETH) before it could be locked, then started laundering it through thousands of automated transfers. Binance pledged over $6.34 billion of its own money to cover customer losses and has already closed about 95% of the gap. Withdrawals began reopening on November 1.

Meanwhile, the Fed held interest rates steady. The US Federal Reserve (America's central bank) kept its key rate at 3.75–4%. Interest rates affect how expensive it is to borrow money, which influences markets. Traders now see a 70.7% chance of a rate hike in December.

Bitcoin prices tumbled. Bitcoin briefly fell below $77,000 amid the hack, down 3.2% for the week. Over $1.5 billion in positions were liquidated (forcibly closed) in one day. The crypto "fear and greed index" (a mood gauge) dropped from 54 to 34, entering "fear" territory.

Bottom line: A historic hack shook confidence, but Binance's quick response and frozen funds limited the damage. Markets remain nervous as investors await the Fed's next move.

This is an AI-generated summary. Read the original article at: https://forklog.com/news/itogi-nedeli-vzlom-binance-na-6-3-mlrd-stavka-frs-i-padenie-bitkoina-nizhe-77-000