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# Bitcoin Slips 0.77% on Oct 30, 2026 as Binance Hack Fallout Lingers
- URL: https://bullquill.com/crypto-daily-brief-2026-10-30/
- Published: 2026-10-31T00:18:28.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-31T00:18:28.000Z
- Description: Bitcoin closed Friday's UTC day at $77,180.42 on Coinbase as Binance sized its hack at $6.3 billion, pledged to cover losses and said withdrawals should restart within 48 hours.
- Author: Rowan Ashby
- Tags: Crypto, Daily Brief, Bitcoin, Binance, Bitcoin ETF, Ethereum, North Korea, #lang-en, #tr-crypto-daily-brief-2026-10-30

Bitcoin slipped 0.77% to $77,180.42 at the 00:00 UTC close of October 30, 2026 on Coinbase, after Binance put the damage from its October 29 hack at $6.3 billion and pledged to cover all customer losses.

*Data as of: Coinbase Exchange daily candles for the UTC day of October 30, 2026 (00:00 to 24:00 UTC); CoinGecko global data at 00:13 UTC on October 31\. The latest confirmed US ETF flow data covers October 29.*

## Key takeaways

- Bitcoin fell $599.91 (−0.77%) to $77,180.42 at the 00:00 UTC close on October 31 on Coinbase, after trading between $76,141.02 and $78,634.80 during the UTC day of October 30.
- Binance estimated the impact of the security incident at $6.3 billion, said about $3 billion had been frozen and pledged to cover all losses, according to CNBC.
- Ether edged down 0.32% to $2,241.07, while Solana rose 0.82% to $96.15 and XRP gained 1.56% to $1.25 on Coinbase.
- US spot bitcoin ETFs took in a net $17.07 million on October 29, a fourth straight day of inflows, while spot ether ETFs lost about $105 million, according to TokenPost.
- CoinGecko valued the total crypto market at $2.62 trillion at 00:13 UTC on October 31, with bitcoin dominance at 59.12%.

## Session recap

Most of the hack-driven selling happened late on October 29, so the UTC-day move on Friday was small even though 24-hour comparisons looked much worse. Bitcoin opened at $77,782.75 on Coinbase, fell to a low of $76,141.02, recovered to $78,634.80 and closed near $77,180\. CNBC, measuring against the level a day earlier, reported bitcoin down 4.1% at $77,445.96 in its 16:15 UTC update. For the wider picture, see [Asian and global markets today](https://bullquill.com/markets/), our [October 29 crypto brief](https://bullquill.com/crypto-daily-brief-2026-10-29/) on the first hours of the incident, and our report on [the Binance recovery effort and the Thai response](https://bullquill.com/binance-hack-recovery-north-korea-thailand/).

__Crypto market, UTC day October 30, 2026__
| Instrument        | Close/Level | Change   | % change | As of (UTC)      | Source               |
| ----------------- | ----------- | -------- | -------- | ---------------- | -------------------- |
| Bitcoin (BTC)     | $77,180.42  | −$599.91 | −0.77%   | 2026-10-31 00:00 | Coinbase daily close |
| Ether (ETH)       | $2,241.07   | −$7.27   | −0.32%   | 2026-10-31 00:00 | Coinbase daily close |
| Solana (SOL)      | $96.15      | +$0.78   | +0.82%   | 2026-10-31 00:00 | Coinbase daily close |
| XRP               | $1.25       | +$0.0193 | +1.56%   | 2026-10-31 00:00 | Coinbase daily close |
| Bitcoin dominance | 59.12%      | −0.31 pt | −0.52%   | 2026-10-31 00:13 | CoinGecko global     |

Changes are calculated from Coinbase's previous UTC daily closes on October 29: bitcoin $77,780.33, ether $2,248.34, solana $95.37 and XRP $1.2349 (October 30 XRP close: $1.2542). Dominance is compared with CoinGecko's 59.43% reading at 00:09 UTC on October 30\. CoinGecko put 24-hour trading volume at $113.27 billion at 00:13 UTC on October 31, with ether's share of total market value at 10.43%. Coinbase recorded 13,656.05 BTC traded on its BTC-USD market during the day, up from 9,933.62 BTC on Thursday.

Ether traded between $2,170.03 and $2,258.64 on Coinbase, Solana between $92.14 and $98.50, and XRP between $1.1975 and $1.2713\. Total market value of $2.62 trillion compared with $2.64 trillion a day earlier on CoinGecko.

## What drove it

### Binance sized the hack and promised to cover it

Binance said the incident affected about $6.3 billion in assets, which CNBC described as by far the biggest hack in crypto on record. AMBCrypto reported that the attack began at about 20:20 UTC on October 29 and targeted the exchange's main Ethereum hot wallet, an online wallet used for routine withdrawals. Binance's initial investigation suggested it "may involve a compromised DevOps engineer's laptop," which let an attacker reach a service container and submit unauthorised withdrawals, CNBC reported. crypto.news reported that Binance said it had found no evidence that wallet private keys were leaked.

Binance pledged to cover all losses, according to CNBC and crypto.news, and has a $1.2 billion Secure Asset Fund for Users (SAFU) for such events, CNBC said. Co-founder and co-CEO Yi He said, "We expect to begin resuming withdrawal services in the next 48 hours," AMBCrypto reported, adding that deposits were unaffected.

### Frozen funds limited the damage

Stablecoin issuers and other firms froze part of the stolen assets. CNBC put the frozen amount at about $3 billion; AMBCrypto said partners including Tether, Circle, Ripple and Paxos had frozen about $2.8 billion, nearly half the total. Spencer Hallarn, head of markets at GSR, credited Binance's "assurances that no user funds would be lost" with restoring confidence, CNBC reported. Bitcoin has fallen 8.3% on average in the first 24 hours after past exchange exploits, CNBC said, citing Anchorage Digital data. "This was a security breach at a centralized exchange, not a failure of the Bitcoin network," Sam Callahan of OranjeBTC told CNBC.

### Liquidations and options expiry

Forced closures of leveraged positions added to the late-Thursday drop. crypto.news reported about $1.54 billion in liquidations over 24 hours, roughly $1.30 billion of them long positions, according to CoinGlass data, in an article published at 07:33 UTC on October 30\. The same report said about $10.8 billion in bitcoin options were due to expire on Deribit on October 30\. Our [guide to crypto liquidations](https://bullquill.com/crypto-liquidations-explained/) explains why totals differ by provider and time window.

### Tech stocks and the exchange token

Hallarn told CNBC that bitcoin has largely traded in step with other risk assets, including equities that sold off overnight on AI-related earnings concerns. Binance's own token, BNB, fell 6% to $701.18, CNBC reported. US-listed bitcoin funds showed the gap between US hours and the UTC day: BlackRock's iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT) fell 5.14% and Fidelity's FBTC 5.07% on Friday, according to The Motley Fool, because their previous close came before the hack began.

### ETF flows split

US spot bitcoin ETFs drew a net $17.07 million on October 29, down about 88% from $137.33 million the session before, according to SoSoValue data reported by TokenPost. IBIT took in $12.8 million and Fidelity's FBTC $10.53 million, while Grayscale's BTC fund lost $15.35 million. Spot ether ETFs posted about $105 million of net outflows the same day, their fourth in a row, with BlackRock's ETHA losing about $71.68 million, TokenPost and crypto.news reported. Flows for October 30 had not been confirmed when this brief was written. See our [explainer on bitcoin ETF flows](https://bullquill.com/bitcoin-etf-flows-explained/).

## Political & policy watch

- **North Korea link.** Security firm TRM Labs linked the incident to North Korea, CNBC reported, and AMBCrypto said ZachXBT and Chainalysis attributed it to the TraderTraitor group. These attributions come from private tracing firms.
- **Stablecoin issuers as gatekeepers.** The freezes by Tether, Circle and others show centralised issuers can block stolen tokens within hours, which matters for traders across Southeast Asia who use USDT and USDC to move money between exchanges.
- **Federal Reserve.** The Fed held its target range at 3.75% to 4.00% on October 28, with two officials voting for a quarter-point increase, crypto.news reported. For background, see [how Fed rate decisions affect bitcoin](https://bullquill.com/how-fed-rate-decisions-affect-bitcoin/).

## What to watch next

- **By about November 1:** Binance's restart of withdrawals, which Yi He said should begin within 48 hours of the October 30 update, and any revision to the $6.3 billion estimate.
- **Next US trading day:** spot bitcoin and ether ETF flow data for October 30, the first full US session after the hack.
- **November 3 (Tuesday):** US midterm elections.
- **November 25 (Wednesday), 13:30 UTC:** second estimate of US third-quarter GDP, per the BEA.
- **December 8–9:** next FOMC meeting, according to the Fed's calendar.

## Risk checklist for readers

- **Exchange risk is separate from network risk.** A hack at a trading platform can freeze withdrawals even when the underlying blockchain works normally.
- **Hack figures get revised.** Loss and freeze estimates differ between the exchange, tracing firms and media, and can change over days.
- **Time windows change the story.** A UTC-day change, a 24-hour change and a US-hours ETF change can look very different on the same day.
- **Leverage magnifies moves.** Borrowed positions can be closed automatically after small price swings, as the October 29 liquidations showed.
- **Check official statements.** Withdrawal timetables and compensation terms should be confirmed on the exchange's own channels.

## Frequently asked questions

### Why did Bitcoin fall on October 30, 2026?

Bitcoin slipped 0.77% to $77,180.42 on Coinbase over the UTC day of October 30, 2026, as markets digested the Binance hack that began late on October 29\. Binance estimated the impact at $6.3 billion and pledged to cover all losses, according to CNBC. Most of the selling happened on October 29, which is why 24-hour comparisons on October 30 showed a drop of about 4%.

### What is bitcoin dominance?

Bitcoin dominance is bitcoin's share of the total value of all cryptocurrencies. CoinGecko put it at 59.12% at 00:13 UTC on October 31, 2026\. A rising share usually means money is concentrating in bitcoin relative to other tokens.

### What is the Binance SAFU fund?

SAFU, the Secure Asset Fund for Users, is a reserve Binance keeps to offset customer losses from security breaches and similar events. CNBC put its size at $1.2 billion. After the October 29, 2026 hack, Binance said it would cover all losses.

This article is for information only and is not investment advice.