Rating agency Fitch Ratings said that bitcoin’s relatively limited reaction to the attack on crypto exchange Binance points to greater resilience of the cryptocurrency market to industry shocks. After the first reports of the attack, bitcoin’s price fell by about 6% over 10 hours, Anadolu Agency reports.
Asset theft
According to Fitch, the attack began on October 29, and digital assets were stolen across several blockchains. The agency noted that it could be the largest cryptocurrency theft in history. The total value of the stolen assets was estimated at $6.3 billion in the Anadolu report.
Among the stolen assets were about 18,270 bitcoins, valued at approximately $1.5 billion at the time of the attack. Binance temporarily suspended trading and withdrawals and began restoring asset withdrawal services on November 1.
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Market reaction
Daily bitcoin trading volume rose by 67%, to about $40.9 billion, while the average for the previous 30 days was $27 billion, according to CoinMarketCap data cited by Fitch. The agency noted that broader market weakness and leveraged positions also affected the price decline.
Fitch compared the reaction with previous sharp bitcoin declines: 35% during the coronavirus crisis in March 2020, 14% after the collapse of FTX in 2022, and 21% after the Bitstamp hack in 2015. In the agency’s view, the lower level of disruption may be explained by the deeper and more diversified structure of the crypto market.
The agency stressed that conservative collateral coverage, short collateral liquidation periods, and access to multiple trading venues remain important for bitcoin-backed securities. Cyberattacks can restrict access to collateral and delay its sale even amid high overall market liquidity. Fitch added that this incident alone does not change its analytical view of such securities.
