Two major trading platforms, Binance and Polymarket, are investigating security incidents on Thursday, with the former facing billions of dollars in potential losses. There is no evidence that the incidents are related.
Binance, the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange by trading volume, said it was actively investigating reports of “potential security issues.” As of Thursday evening, the company said it had frozen about $3 billion in funds on the platform.
Binance said in an update to
The company did not respond to a request for comment.
Binance founder and former CEO Changpeng Zhao said that a hacker attack on X seemed possible.
“User funds are safe! This does look like a hack on Binance,” Zhao wrote in a post on X. “I no longer manage Binance, but as a shareholder, I hope all user funds will be fully protected.”
Zhao praised Tether and Circle, the issuers of cryptocurrencies traded on Binance, for quickly freezing funds.
Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino said on X that the company has frozen more than $1.5 billion related to the potential Binance hack. Circle CEO Jeremy Allaire said the company has frozen more than $800 million in connection with the incident and is coordinating with law enforcement.
Polymarket also reported a security incident
Also on Thursday, Polymarket, the world’s largest prediction market by trading volume, temporarily halted trading after users reported unauthorized withdrawals.
In X’s statement, the company said one of its third-party providers was compromised and the incident was turned over to law enforcement. It also said trading had resumed at 3 p.m. Eastern Time.
A Polymarket spokesperson told Business Insider that the malicious activity occurred in the UK and that the company will compensate affected users. The company could not confirm the amount that may have been stolen.
Polymarket’s U.S. exchange has not been halted and does not appear to be affected.
A person familiar with the matter blamed the Polymarket hack on a compromised third-party vendor called DebugBear, a web performance monitoring platform designed to help businesses optimize website speed. It’s unclear exactly how Polymarket uses the platform.
DebugBear did not respond to a request for comment. The company said in an X post on Thursday that it was aware of a security incident and considered it a “top priority.”