Crypto ‘scammers on overdrive’ as Binance customers pull billions from accounts after $6.3bn hack – business live

Good morning, and welcome to our rolling coverage of business, the financial markets, and the world economy.

Crypto scammers are now in “overdrive”, the founder of crypto exchange Binance has warned, as customers pull billions in funds from the platform as it recovers from a record hack.

The platform was hit by a $6.3bn theft on Thursday, which has since been described as the biggest heist in history. Experts identified North Korea as the probable culprit.

Binance initially froze withdrawals as it investigated the breach but on Sunday announced it had begun a phased reopening.

By Sunday afternoon, the platform had processed $4.6bn in withdrawals and $1bn in deposits, resulting in a net outflow of about $3.6bn – 2.1% of its $171bn in total assets under management. (Those numbers were confirmed by the company in its latest proof of reserves snapshot – a full report is expected today.)

Changpeng Zhao, the founder of the platform and commonly known as CZ, has warned that scammers are now targeting those that are trying to pull their money from the platform. He wrote on X:

Scammers on over drive now. Be careful.

His post was in response to a post which said:

Some of you may have seen posts and screenshots circulating recently. Please be aware that these screenshots are fake and the information in them is false. For accurate and up-to-date information, always refer to our official channels and announcements.

The hack has spooked the market, with investors also pulling out funds from Bitcoin ETFs in the US, according to Nick Forster, chief executive of Derive.xyz, a crypto platform. He said:

US spot Bitcoin ETFs recorded $643 million in net outflows on Friday, their first trading session following the hack.

BlackRock’s IBIT saw $233.7 million in outflows, while Fidelity’s FBTC lost $201 million, ARKB $129.5 million, GBTC $53.3 million and BITB $25.7 million. No fund recorded net inflows.

….We’re seeing a similar shift in options trading on Derive.xyz. In the first 12 hours following the hack, put options accounted for 68% of Bitcoin options premiums traded, compared with 43% in the preceding five days.

Trading activity also remained elevated, with approximately $55 million in daily Bitcoin options volume since the hack, compared with $34 million the day prior.

Traders have been moving quickly to protect themselves against further losses, with downside protection taking a much larger share of options activity.

He added that the odds of Bitcoin hitting the $100,000 level by the end of the year were now just 3.5%.

Last Wednesday, Derive options were pricing a 6% probability of Bitcoin exceeding $100K by Christmas. That has now fallen to just 3.5%, or roughly a one-in-30 chance.

…Before the hack, our options market was pricing a 75% probability of Bitcoin finishing above $80,000 at Friday’s expiry. Instead, Bitcoin settled at $77,786.

The agenda

• 6am GMT: Ryanair half-year results

• 9am GMT: Eurozone manufacturing PMI

• 9.30am GMT: UK manufacturing PMI

• 3pm GMT: US manufacturing PMI

• 10pm GMT: Apple Q4 earnings

Key events

• 16m ago

  Introduction: Crypto 'scammers on overdrive' as Binance customers pull billions from accounts after $6.3bn hack

And in case you missed it: rival trading platform Chainalysis said on Friday it had also been the target of a cyber attack, although it found no evidence of unauthorised access to “investigation content, authentication credentials, or session tokens.”

It said in a statement:

Our team is working with leading cybersecurity experts to investigate this activity and harden our systems. We’ve proactively notified all of our customers and will keep them updated as our work progresses. This security incident is not related to the recent crypto theft at Binance.

Good morning, and welcome to our rolling coverage of business, the financial markets, and the world economy.

Crypto scammers are now in “overdrive”, the founder of crypto exchange Binance has warned, as customers pull billions in funds from the platform as it recovers from a record hack.

The platform was hit by a $6.3bn theft on Thursday, which has since been described as the biggest heist in history. Experts identified North Korea as the probable culprit.

Binance initially froze withdrawals as it investigated the breach but on Sunday announced it had begun a phased reopening.

By Sunday afternoon, the platform had processed $4.6bn in withdrawals and $1bn in deposits, resulting in a net outflow of about $3.6bn – 2.1% of its $171bn in total assets under management. (Those numbers were confirmed by the company in its latest proof of reserves snapshot – a full report is expected today.)

Changpeng Zhao, the founder of the platform and commonly known as CZ, has warned that scammers are now targeting those that are trying to pull their money from the platform. He wrote on X:

Scammers on over drive now. Be careful.

His post was in response to a post which said:

Some of you may have seen posts and screenshots circulating recently. Please be aware that these screenshots are fake and the information in them is false. For accurate and up-to-date information, always refer to our official channels and announcements.

The hack has spooked the market, with investors also pulling out funds from Bitcoin ETFs in the US, according to Nick Forster, chief executive of Derive.xyz, a crypto platform. He said:

US spot Bitcoin ETFs recorded $643 million in net outflows on Friday, their first trading session following the hack.

BlackRock’s IBIT saw $233.7 million in outflows, while Fidelity’s FBTC lost $201 million, ARKB $129.5 million, GBTC $53.3 million and BITB $25.7 million. No fund recorded net inflows.

….We’re seeing a similar shift in options trading on Derive.xyz. In the first 12 hours following the hack, put options accounted for 68% of Bitcoin options premiums traded, compared with 43% in the preceding five days.

Trading activity also remained elevated, with approximately $55 million in daily Bitcoin options volume since the hack, compared with $34 million the day prior.

Traders have been moving quickly to protect themselves against further losses, with downside protection taking a much larger share of options activity.

He added that the odds of Bitcoin hitting the $100,000 level by the end of the year were now just 3.5%.

Last Wednesday, Derive options were pricing a 6% probability of Bitcoin exceeding $100K by Christmas. That has now fallen to just 3.5%, or roughly a one-in-30 chance.

…Before the hack, our options market was pricing a 75% probability of Bitcoin finishing above $80,000 at Friday’s expiry. Instead, Bitcoin settled at $77,786.

The agenda

• 6am GMT: Ryanair half-year results

• 9am GMT: Eurozone manufacturing PMI

• 9.30am GMT: UK manufacturing PMI

• 3pm GMT: US manufacturing PMI

• 10pm GMT: Apple Q4 earnings