The biggest crypto hack ever, and NYSE picks Hyperliquid

Every week, Amdax summarizes what’s happening in the crypto market for you. Want to dive deeper? Click on the links (if available) in this article for more insights.

Market update

Stay informed in three steps:

1. Record hack at Binance hits an already nervous market
On Thursday, October 29, an attacker drained about 6.3 billion dollars from Binance’s hot wallets in roughly twenty minutes. It is the largest crypto theft ever, more than four times the 2025 Bybit hack, and the FBI has named North Korea as the culprit. Around 3 billion dollars has been frozen. Binance covered nearly all of the loss from its own funds, and withdrawals have been reopening in stages since Sunday. Bitcoin fell to its lowest level since mid-September and traded near 76,700 dollars on Monday evening. The broader altcoin space moved with it, with Binance’s own token BNB taking the biggest hit. The market was already on edge. Tech stocks took a beating on doubts over the billions being invested in AI, and gold slid to its lowest point in a year. A sharp drop in oil and falling market rates brought little relief on Monday.

2. Dutch Council of State wants the new Box 3 delayed to 2030
The Dutch Council of State, the government’s top legal adviser, has told the cabinet not to submit its amendment to the Box 3 wealth tax bill, and to withdraw the bill itself. Under the amendment, gains on stocks, funds and other financial instruments would be taxed only when you sell, starting in 2028. Bank balances, foreign currency and crypto you hold directly would face an accrual tax in 2028 and 2029, including gains you have not yet realized. The Council calls that distinction poorly justified and legally vulnerable, and uses crypto as an example: holding crypto directly would be taxed differently from holding it through a fund. The Dutch Tax Authority gave a negative verdict on all five parts it assessed and called the plan unworkable for 2028. The Council wants a single switch to a new system for all assets in 2030. The advice is not binding.

3. NYSE owner plans a US market built on Hyperliquid
Intercontinental Exchange, the owner of the New York Stock Exchange, plans to open a US market running on Hyperliquid’s technology. Hyperliquid is a trading platform on its own blockchain where perpetuals are traded around the clock: contracts with no expiry date that track a stock, an index, a commodity or crypto. ICE’s partner is Trade [XYZ], the largest builder of markets on Hyperliquid, with more than 650 billion dollars in volume in just over a year. ICE is taking a stake in the company and will run the exchange and clearing itself, including identity checks and anti-money laundering controls. Americans cannot use the existing markets today, and the CFTC still has to approve the plan. The turnaround stands out. According to Bloomberg, ICE and CME pushed for tighter oversight of Hyperliquid just over five months ago.

Tim’s take

What struck me this week is what did not happen. After the largest crypto theft on record, the market fell less than expected, but no convincing recovery followed. The first part says something about how mature the infrastructure has become: much of the stolen funds was frozen quickly, and Binance customers lost nothing. The second interests me more, because it suggests the drop had less to do with Binance than with broader risk appetite. And that is under pressure from the doubts around AI. The NYSE owner’s move toward Hyperliquid gave the HYPE token a solid lift, but not the rest of the market. So news from the sector is not being ignored, it is just drowned out by a bigger story. Before we see big gains again, good news will have to reach beyond the token of a single project.

Behind the scenes

Less than one and a half percent

New figures from DNB show that Dutch households held 3.2 billion euros in crypto with Dutch crypto service providers at the end of June. That is less than one and a half percent of the 234.2 billion euros the Dutch have invested in total. What stands out is that DNB now includes crypto in its investment statistics, alongside stocks, bonds and funds.

According to Lucas Wensing, the figures say two things: crypto has become an established asset class, and we are only just getting started. Ten years ago, you had to explain why you invested in crypto. Today, not owning crypto is a choice too, even if it is often an unconscious one.

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