On the evening of October 29, 2026, hackers stole an estimated $6.3 billion from the Binance crypto exchange, marking the largest hack in crypto history. Despite the breach, Binance assured customers that it would cover all losses and still had sufficient funds to fulfill this promise. The exchange's blockchain and its native token, BNB, were not directly affected by the attack, though BNB's price dropped nearly 7% in the 24 hours following the breach. However, it remains up 212% over the past three years.
By October 30, Binance's partners had frozen at least $3 billion of the stolen funds, and the exchange had set aside $6.3 billion to compensate affected customers. The hack temporarily reduced Binance's Ethereum reserves to about 94% of customer balances, but by October 31, the reserves were fully backed again. Importantly, the hackers did not steal any BNB, leaving the coin's supply unaffected.
The value of BNB is closely tied to investor trust in Binance, as it has no utility outside the exchange's ecosystem. Despite the theft, there is little evidence that users have lost faith in Binance, as the exchange has weathered similar issues in the past without significant impact. However, the long-term investment case for BNB remains weak. The coin's transaction fees have not grown over the last three years, undermining the idea that BNB will be a strong long-term investment.
In summary, while Binance has managed the immediate fallout from the hack, the lack of growth in transaction fees suggests that BNB may not be a worthwhile investment moving forward.