On 29 October 2026 thieves took about $6.3 billion from Binance, the largest crypto theft on record. Binance stopped withdrawals. Binance TH, its Thai partner, stopped crypto withdrawals. Many people in Thailand live from crypto. This page plans for worse than today.
The board
| Place | Taking coins out | Putting in, trading | What they say |
|---|---|---|---|
| Binance Withdrawals paused binance.com, run from outside Thailand | Paused since 29 October. Binance expects to restart within 48 hours (30 October).[486][487] | Sources differ: RTÉ reports deposits running; THE STANDARD reports deposits paused too.[487][488] | “Rest assured that user funds are completely safe.” Co-founder Yi He says Binance will cover all hacking losses.[486][487] |
| Binance TH Crypto withdrawals paused Gulf Binance Co., Ltd., licensed by the Thai SEC | Crypto withdrawals paused for a security check. No end date given.[489] | Trading, crypto deposits, and baht in and out running (Thansettakij, 07:11). An earlier statement paused crypto deposits too.[489][490] | Its cold wallets (coins kept offline) are separate from Binance's.[490] |
| Thai SEC Regulator The regulator; Binance's own site is outside its watch | — | — | No significant impact on customers' assets in Thailand found so far. Licensed exchanges told to check customers' assets and report at once.[489] |
Checked 30 October 2026, 16:00 Bangkok time. Each exchange posts its own state in its app. A place with no report today is not on the board.
Today
Worse than today
Eight steps, each worse than the one before. Each has happened somewhere before. Nobody knows which step this one stops at.
- 0
Paused
What happens Today. Binance and Binance TH stop crypto withdrawals. You see your coins in the app. You cannot move them.
Before Zipmex, an exchange with a large Thai business, stopped withdrawals on 20 July 2022. Thai withdrawals came back late the same day, except from one savings product.[483]
What helps
- An exchange posts its own state in its app and on its website.
- A screenshot with the date showing is proof of a balance on that day.
- The counter below adds up every place your money is.
- 1
Weeks, not days
What happens The pause goes on. Prices move while your coins cannot. If you sell a little each month to pay rent, the rent comes before the exchange opens.
Before Celsius, a crypto lender, stopped withdrawals on 12 June 2022 and filed for bankruptcy on 13 July 2022.[491][492]
What helps
- The counter below shows how many months the money outside a frozen place pays for.
- Two ways to baht through two different companies: one can freeze while the other runs.
- 2
The promise falls short
What happens Binance says it will cover every loss. About $6.3 billion is gone, about $3 billion is frozen, and its user fund (SAFU) held about $1 billion when last reported, in 2024. If the money falls short, customers get back a part, late, or a token that stands for the rest.
Before Mt. Gox, once the largest bitcoin exchange, failed in February 2014. Repayments began on 5 July 2024, ten years later. The deadline has since moved to 31 October 2026, with many customers still waiting.[493][494][495][496][497][488]
What helps
- A claim runs on proof: statements, screenshots, deposit receipts, transaction IDs (TxID: the receipt number of a crypto transfer), and the exchange's emails.
- Notices and payouts go to the email and phone number on the account.
- 3
The run spreads
What happens Fear moves to other exchanges. Many people withdraw at once; some exchanges slow or stop withdrawals, Thai ones too. Prices fall. A loan backed by crypto is sold off when the price falls.
Before FTX: about $6 billion was withdrawn in 72 hours, and it filed for bankruptcy on 11 November 2022.[498][499][500]
What helps
- Each exchange sets a daily withdrawal limit, shown in its app.
- A loan backed by crypto has a liquidation price: the price at which the lender sells the coins to pay itself back.
- 4
USDT breaks
What happens USDT is a coin meant to stay at one US dollar; it is 37% of Bitkub's own baht trading. Today Tether froze about $1.57 billion of it: one company can stop any USDT address. If people stop believing a dollar stands behind each coin, USDT sells for less than a dollar.
Before TerraUSD, another dollar coin, lost its dollar value in May 2022; about $45 billion of market value went in a week.[501][502][487]
What helps
- The part of savings held in one coin is the part one company can stop.
- The Offrampt home page shows the USDT-to-baht price, live.
- 5
The bank door shuts
What happens Selling to a stranger (P2P, person to person) can bring you baht from someone else's loss. The bank freezes your account. Since July 2026 the Bank of Thailand screens large USDT trades.
Before By 30 June 2025 the SEC had blocked more than 29,000 crypto mule accounts (accounts used to move money taken by fraud) and frozen about ฿186 million.[503][73][77][78][103]
What helps
- A sale on an exchange licensed by the Thai SEC pays into a bank account in the seller's own name.
- Sale records show where the baht came from.
- 6
The fraud wave
What happens Fake Binance support on LINE, Facebook and the phone. “Compensation” forms that ask for your login. “Recovery” services that want a fee first.
Before On 29 October Binance told users not to trust “unofficial links, messages, or requests for account information”. The FBI says a person who offers to get lost crypto back may be running a second fraud.[486][442][428]
What helps
- Recovery words are the 12 or 24 words that open a wallet. Whoever has them can empty it.
- An address typed by hand reaches the exchange; a link in a message can reach a copy of it.
- Hotline 1441 answers 24 hours a day; police reports go in at thaipoliceonline.go.th.
- 7
Your own phone
What happens Binance's theft may have started on one laptop. Your phone and computer can open the same way: a stolen login, recovery words in a photo on iCloud or Google Photos, one password on two sites. Nobody can pause your own wallet.
Before In November 2025 Thailand's cyber police (CCIB) worked a case where malware searched phones for Google Authenticator backups and recovery words, and attackers took over exchange accounts.[450][451][487]
What helps
- Recovery words on paper or metal stay off the internet. A photo of them goes up to iCloud or Google Photos.
- SMS codes follow the phone number, and a SIM swap (moving a number to another SIM) hands them to someone else. An authenticator app stays on the phone.
- Wallet-stealing apps arrive through links in chats and ads; a wallet maker's own page links its own app.
- 8
The family
What happens You go into hospital, or you die. Your family has no list, no keys and no idea who to call, and fraudsters find them first.
What helps
- A written list of where the coins are, and whom to call, lets a family act without the recovery words.
- Hongdam's family plan does this with you, without your recovery words in plain sight.
All at once
Frozen for months. A part of the money comes back, late. Prices fall by half. USDT sells under a dollar. Your bank account is frozen when you sell. Fraud calls every day. The last line of the counter below is this case.
How many months could you live?
Write where your money is, in baht, and what you spend in a month. Tick each place that has stopped withdrawals. This page adds the numbers in your browser.
Half price counts exchanges and your own wallet at half; baht in a bank stays whole. One square is one month.
Money gone?
Hotline 1441 answers 24 hours a day. Police reports go in at thaipoliceonline.go.th. Under the 2023 technology crime decree, a bank can freeze the account the money went to as soon as the victim asks, before a police report.[76]
Thai Police Online (online police report)
File a police report for online fraud and technology crime. Police name this site and hotline 1441 as the channels for online reports.
Hotline 1441
24-hour hotline for technology crime advice; the Ministry of Digital Economy and Society's AOC 1441 service coordinates freezing of scammers' bank accounts.
Your bank's hotline (account freeze)
Under the 2023 technology crime decree, a victim can ask the bank to suspend the receiving account at once, without first filing a police report.
https://thaipublica.org/2023/03/electronic-crime-law-effective-now/
SEC complaint and tip-off centre 1207
Report a suspected unlicensed platform or investment solicitation by phone on 1207, by email to [email protected], or via SEC Live Chat.
Help, for a fee
Hongdam (หงส์ดำ), a Chiang Rai company that does security and tech work, does these with you on a call: a safety check of where your coins are and of your phone and computer; your own wallet, set up with you; a family plan, so the people you trust can reach your coins if you cannot; the paperwork after a loss, for the police, the SEC and the exchange. Stolen coins rarely come back. Prices are on Hongdam's page.