Tether says it froze $1.5 billion tied to Binance hack

Stablecoin issuers can freeze tokens at addresses they control. Tether says it froze more than $1.5 billion in USDT linked to the Oct. 29 Binance hack within 30 minutes, before the funds could be transferred, swapped or laundered, according to Tether’s announcement.

The freeze shows how an issuer’s ability to block transfers can limit the movement of stolen stablecoins, while leaving other assets beyond that control.

How much did Tether freeze, and when?

Tether said it froze more than $1.5 billion in USDT within 30 minutes of the attack on Oct. 29. The company did not specify in its announcement which networks or addresses accounted for the total. It said the funds were stopped before they could be moved further.

Tether’s announcement also said the FBI had identified North Korea as responsible for the hack. The company described the freeze as part of its work with law enforcement and industry partners to track illicit funds. That attribution is the FBI’s, as relayed by Tether; Binance’s Nov. 3 incident update likewise said the FBI had identified North Korea as responsible.

How large was the wider Binance incident?

Binance said approximately $6.34 billion in digital assets were affected. In its Nov. 3 update, the exchange reported that about $2.85 billion had been frozen or intercepted across assets, subject to reconciliation and market-price volatility. Tether’s USDT freeze is one part of that broader response, not a separate estimate of the total recovery.

Binance said the attacker used unauthorized access to an internal wallet-signing service to initiate transactions outside the normal withdrawal process. The exchange described an attack involving several networks and said it suspended withdrawals, coordinated with asset issuers and partners, and took steps to revoke unauthorized on-chain permissions.

What does the freeze prevent, and what remains unresolved?

Tether said the frozen USDT could no longer be transferred, swapped or laundered from the affected addresses. The announcement does not say the assets have been returned to Binance or its users, so the freeze should not be read as completed recovery.

Binance said it would absorb the financial impact rather than pass the loss to users. Its Nov. 3 update said 98% of impacted token assets had been replenished as of Oct. 31, with the remaining, less liquid assets still being purchased. The exchange said the investigation was ongoing and its initial findings would undergo independent review.

Sources

• Tether’s announcement — tether.io