Bitwise CIO says Binance’s $6.3B hack is unlikely to have lasting impact on Bitcoin

The $6.3 billion Binance hack is unlikely to have a lasting impact on Bitcoin’s price, according to Bitwise chief investment officer Matt Hougan, who argued that major crypto thefts have historically shown little consistent effect on the market.

In a Wednesday market commentary, Hougan examined Bitcoin’s performance following the largest crypto hacks in history, finding no consistent pattern of gains or losses over the subsequent month.

Bitcoin fell approximately 4% on Friday following the October 29 attack, broadly in line with the Nasdaq 100’s 3% decline. The cryptocurrency has since traded largely sideways, suggesting a limited market reaction to the largest crypto theft on record.

“Bitcoin wasn’t hacked last week. Binance was,” Hougan wrote, arguing that breaches of centralized exchanges do not alter Bitcoin’s underlying network, fixed supply or functionality.

Hougan said investors have access to more secure custody options, including institutional custodians, personal cold storage and exchange traded funds. He highlighted that Bitwise’s crypto ETFs use offline storage, require multiple approvals for asset transfers and restrict withdrawals to preapproved institutional addresses.

He acknowledged that these protections come with tradeoffs, particularly reduced access to underlying assets compared with funds held in exchange wallets. Hougan also warned that increasingly sophisticated cyberattacks, including those involving artificial intelligence, require continued investment in security.

The comments come as Binance reported Wednesday that it had replenished approximately 98% of the assets affected by the breach using its own resources, with the remaining tokens being acquired through market and OTC transactions.