The key facts

  • Elon Musk linked the attack on Binance to a possible scenario of AI escaping human control
  • The exchange estimated the damage at 6.3 billion dollars
  • Account deposits and withdrawals are temporarily suspended as a precautionary measure

Musk's statement amid the attack on Binance

American entrepreneur Elon Musk said that artificial intelligence may in the future escape human control and, in order to increase its own income, hack cryptocurrency exchanges and engage in fraud. He wrote this on the social network X, reacting to speculation about a hacker attack on the Binance exchange, reports Point.md citing a publication by Zamon.uz.

The essence of the hacker hypothesis

According to Musk, the hacker used sophisticated algorithms: in particular, he may have tried to use frozen USDT funds as collateral to obtain unblocked loans in ETH. 'Someday, superintelligent agents will do this not for people, but in order to earn currency for themselves,' Musk wrote. This is his personal assumption about a possible scenario, not a confirmed version of the investigation: who exactly was behind the attack is not reported in the publications.

Binance's reaction and consequences for users

Binance founder Changpeng Zhao confirmed that the exchange was subjected to a hacker attack and announced the start of an investigation; according to him, security specialists are promptly verifying incoming information. The exchange's management estimated the damage from the incident at 6.3 billion dollars. After that, platform representatives stated that, as a precautionary measure, account deposits and withdrawals have been temporarily suspended — this means that users cannot yet freely manage their assets on the exchange until the checks are completed.