October 29, 1929, is remembered in history books as Black Tuesday, the day America suffered one of the most catastrophic stock market crashes in its history.

97 years later, October 29, 2026, may well be remembered as Black Binance Thursday, when the world's largest cryptocurrency exchange suffered the biggest exchange hack in history by dollar value.

On-chain investigators have linked the attack to North Korea, while Binance says the exploit began with a compromised employee laptop. The attackers allegedly exploited Ethereum's EIP-7702 wallet delegation mechanism and deployed automated contracts to drain funds.

More than $6 billion was stolen in just 55 minutes, including 18,270 BTC.

The incident raises serious questions about industry-wide security. If even the world's largest and best-funded crypto exchange can lose $6 billion in under an hour, what does that say about the safeguards protecting customer funds?

And yet, despite the scale of the attack, Bitcoin has shown remarkable resilience, trading less than 5% below its price when news of the hack first broke.

Also in this week's newsletter:

Hey everybody,

This is Rob Wallace, co-founder of Bitcoin News.

The world's largest cryptocurrency exchange was just hacked, with $6.3 billion stolen. It's another painful reminder that even the biggest players in this industry aren't immune to security failures.

And it raises a question every serious Bitcoin holder should be asking.

What happens if the institution protecting your Bitcoin gets compromised?

I've spent a lot of time thinking about it, especially as I look to protect my Bitcoin not just for myself, but for my children.

That's why, back in August, I moved a portion of my Bitcoin to Onramp and its Multi-Institution Custody solution.

Here's how it works.

Rather than trusting a single custodian, my Bitcoin at Onramp is secured across three institutions:

It takes two of those three institutions to authorize a transaction, with additional safeguards designed to ensure my Bitcoin doesn't move without my involvement.

No single institution can move my Bitcoin on its own.

And that's what gives me peace of mind.

As I've said before, for the first time in my Bitcoin journey, I feel like I've found a custody solution that can last for generations.

If the recent wave of hacks has you reconsidering how you protect your Bitcoin, I'd encourage you to take a look at Onramp.

Visit onrampbitcoin.com/bn to book a free consultation and learn more about Multi-Institution Custody.

Just when it seemed the wave of crypto industry hacks couldn't get any worse, Binance became the latest victim, suffering what is now the largest cryptocurrency theft in history.

Approximately $6.3 billion in assets were stolen, billions were frozen in a frantic effort to contain the damage, and somehow, Bitcoin's price managed to hold its ground.

But before the week descended into chaos, it actually kicked off with some entertainment.

The week began with Jason Calacanis declaring that Bitcoin would never reach its all-time high again.

Naturally, Bitcoiners wasted no time digging up his past predictions, with Joe Consorti among those pointing out just how often Calacanis had been wrong about Bitcoin.

But things quickly escalated from mockery to million-dollar bets.

Fred Krueger offered to bet Calacanis $1 million that Bitcoin would reach a new all-time high within 10 years. Grant Cardone followed with a $1 million wager on a much shorter two-year timeframe, while Terence Michael offered another million under similar terms.

Calacanis, who seems to be something of an engagement wizard, countered with a 12-month timeframe and even began exploring escrow arrangements to make the bet happen.

The funny part? None of these bets had been publicly finalized, and nobody had clearly agreed to Calacanis' proposed 12-month deadline.

And let's be fair, there's a pretty big difference between declaring that Bitcoin will never reach another all-time high and betting that it won't happen within a year.

But while Bitcoiners were busy debating million-dollar bets on Bitcoin's future, a much bigger story was about to overshadow everything.

October 29 could go down as one of the darkest days in cryptocurrency security history.

The week had already seen Keystone announce plans to destroy nearly 19,000 hardware wallets following a security breach, while Polymarket temporarily suspended trading after hackers stole $2.7 million from users.

But those incidents were about to be dwarfed by something far bigger.

Binance, the world's largest cryptocurrency exchange, suffered a staggering $6.3 billion hack, including 18,270 BTC ($1.47 billion), $2.49 billion in USDT, and $823 million in USDC.

Fortunately, stablecoin issuers moved quickly to contain the damage, with Tether freezing approximately $1.77 billion in USDT and Circle freezing around $825 million in USDC.

Bitcoin, of course, is a different story. There's no central authority capable of freezing those 18,270 BTC, although moving or selling such an enormous amount without attracting attention will be no easy task.

Meanwhile, the FBI has attributed the attack to North Korea's notorious TraderTraitor hacking group. If that attribution holds, this could turn out to be one of the largest involuntary contributions to a national treasury in history.

Binance has reassured users that their funds are safe, reporting that it has already replenished more than 90% of the stolen assets using company funds and reserves.

It's an expensive reminder that even the biggest players in the industry aren't immune to security failures.

Unsurprisingly, news of the hack sent shockwaves through the markets.

Bitcoin fell roughly 5% to around $76,000, while traditional financial markets were having a particularly rough day of their own.

On Friday, the S&P 500 dropped 1.8%, while the Nasdaq plunged nearly 2.9%, as renewed concerns over AI valuations and corporate spending weighed on stocks.

Think about it. The world's largest cryptocurrency exchange suffers a record-breaking hack, billions of dollars are stolen, withdrawals are suspended, and confidence across the industry takes another hit.

And Bitcoin only falls around 5%?

Perhaps Bitcoin has simply been beaten down enough over the past year. Maybe the bottom really is in.

Of course, one relatively resilient reaction doesn't confirm anything, but it does make me wonder whether the market is starting to run out of sellers, especially as institutional interest in Bitcoin continues to grow.

After a week like this, perhaps the most interesting story isn't how much Bitcoin fell, but how little it fell.

- Bam