Bitcoin steadies near $77,700 as Binance traces hack to fake job interview

Bitcoin recovered slightly to $77,661, up 0.3% in 24 hours, as Binance published the first details of how its record $6.3 billion hack began. The exchange says attackers got in through a fake job interview, while US voters head to the polls in the midterm elections.

Prices below are a CoinGecko snapshot taken at 17:00 UTC on 3 November. Changes are rolling 24-hour and 7-day windows.

Bitcoin

Bitcoin traded between $76,303 and $77,708 over the past 24 hours and sat near the top of that range at the snapshot. It is still down 3.49% over seven days. Trading volume was about $28 billion and its market value stood at $1,561.4 billion.

Cointelegraph reports that Bitcoin made modest gains at the start of Wall Street trading on Tuesday as markets awaited cues from the US midterms. BTC/USD chart.

Ether and the other majors

Ether rose 1.25% to $2,295.83, within a 24-hour range of $2,235.31 to $2,301.63. XRP led the majors on the day. BNB was the only large coin in the red over 24 hours, and it remains the weakest on the week along with Solana and Cardano.

Breadth and sentiment

CoinGecko puts total crypto market value at $2.633 trillion, down 2.28% in 24 hours, even as most majors posted small gains. Bitcoin dominance is 59.3% and Ether dominance is 10.7%.

The Crypto Fear & Greed Index reads 26, in Fear, down from 37 a day earlier. It has stayed in Fear since 30 October, when it dropped from a neutral 51. A week ago, on 27 October, it stood at 48.

Main drivers

How the Binance hack happened

According to CoinDesk, North Korea-linked attackers spent months compromising Binance employees and internal systems before exploiting its hot-wallet signing infrastructure through Ethereum's EIP-7702 mechanism. Cointelegraph reports that the exchange's investigation also points to a compromised AI tool and stolen credentials.

Mixed signals on Binance flows

The flow data is not consistent across sources. CoinDesk reports net outflows reached $5.3 billion, with nearly $11 billion leaving over 46 hours, though CEO Richard Teng said hourly deposits were beginning to exceed withdrawals. Cointelegraph says Binance's 24-hour net inflows turned positive at $2.3 billion as withdrawals expanded.

Decrypt notes that both Bitcoin and Ether ETFs have seen outflows in the hack aftermath.

Policy and outlook

CoinDesk reports that the CFTC has cleared perpetual futures on stocks, bringing a crypto trading model to Wall Street. Separately, 10x's Markus Thielen told Cointelegraph he sees Bitcoin reaching $90,000 by year-end, while questioning institutional ETF demand.

What to watch next

• US midterm results. Cointelegraph reports crypto groups spent about $176 million ahead of the vote, with control of Congress and crypto legislation at stake. Our sister site covers the dollar's moves on US midterm day.
• OKX-ICE tokenized stocks. CoinDesk says objections have reached 56 companies as a deadline looms.
• France's budget. The first reading deadline is 17 November, according to Cointelegraph, after crypto exit-tax proposals were scrapped.
• Moscow Exchange. It plans to launch Bitcoin, Ether and USDT trading on 1 December, per Cointelegraph.