Crypto worth billions frozen after suspected Binance hack

Cryptocurrency giant Binance said on Thursday that it has frozen digital assets worth around $3bn (£2.24bn) to prevent them from being stolen while it investigates a security issue.

The company said as part of a series of alerts online that all deposits and withdrawals are temporarily suspended while its teams conduct security checks and that the firm will "cover all losses".

"It does look like a hack on Binance," said Binance's former boss Changpeng Zhao, who remains a majority shareholder of the firm.

Two other major crypto platforms, Tether and Circle, said they have also frozen a total of about $2.4bn of assets in response to the potential Binance hack.