The biggest exchange hack in history, which drained about $6.3 billion from Binance, has not scared off Wall Street analysts. In Friday research notes, Cantor Fitzgerald, TD Cowen and Compass Point called the selloff a buying chance, but they point to listed stocks rather than tokens.
The market took it harder. Coinbase shares lost more than 13% in a day, and Bitcoin slid to $77,000. Here is what the banks' optimism rests on, and where skeptics push back.
Crypto stocks fell 8-13% in a single day
The drop began on Friday, a day after Binance disclosed the breach. According to Yahoo Finance data cited by Cointelegraph, Coinbase lost more than 13%, miner and data-center operator IREN over 10%, Circle about 9%, Figure Technology roughly 9% and Strategy about 8%.
For Coinbase the blow came twice. The day before, the company posted $719 million in net income, but about $715 million of it came from revaluing crypto investments. Adjusted net income was only $78 million, and revenue fell about 34% year over year to $1.16 billion. So the hack does not explain the whole drop.
Three banks share one thesis that this is not 2022
Cantor Fitzgerald analyst Ramsey El-Assal pointed to how fast the industry plugged the leak. By his count, stablecoin issuers and others froze about $3 billion of the stolen funds, roughly half. Tether froze more than $1.5 billion, Circle about $800 million and Ripple about $200 million.
"We would be buyers on weakness."
Ramsey El-Assal, analyst at Cantor Fitzgerald, from a research note dated October 30, 2026
Lance Vitanza of TD Cowen saw the breach as a problem of Binance itself, not of Bitcoin technology. To him the selloff is a chance to add Bitcoin and the stocks of public companies that hold it.
Why stocks instead of tokens
The logic is simple. Coinbase, Robinhood and Strategy give exposure to the crypto market without the custody risk this hack laid bare. Such stocks tend to bounce once sentiment steadies. El-Assal expects exactly this trio to recover as soon as the panic fades.
Compass Point went further. Ed Engel and Michael Donovan believe Binance has "more than enough liquidity to cover the hole". Still, reimbursing customers could squeeze stablecoin supply, and some users may move to Coinbase and Hyperliquid. They see the key range for Bitcoin at $75,000-77,000.
Bitcoin fell less than after earlier hacks
On Saturday Bitcoin traded near $77,400, about 4% below its level before the attack. Anchorage Digital data cited by CNBC put the average drop at 8.3% in the first day after earlier exchange hacks. When Bybit was hit in 2025, Bitcoin lost around 5%, from nearly $100,000 to $95,000.
The scale is still a record. Glassnode calculates that the Binance hack exceeds the combined losses of the next nine largest attacks. The previous record, $1.5 billion, belonged to Bybit. Three of the ten biggest hacks have happened since the start of 2025, and all of them hit exchanges.
Strive CEO Matt Cole compared the event to a bank robbery, not a failure of the Bitcoin network. He described the market as an "early spring" phase that could last another six to nine months, and added that it is too early to talk about a bottom.
Where skeptics see weak spots
Not everyone shares the banks' calm.
- Moody's: Cristiano Ventricelli points to hot-wallet risks and concentration in large centralized intermediaries. The fallout depends on final losses, affected counterparties and any loss of confidence.
- Blockaid's CEO thinks the transaction signing process was compromised: one Ethereum transaction carried 50 signed authorizations. Binance said it found no evidence of leaked private keys, and the investigation continues.
- Compass Point reminds that reimbursements could weigh on stablecoin supply.
- TRM Labs and Chainalysis tie the attack to the North Korean group TraderTraitor, while the Secret Service and FBI handle the case.
The bottom line in numbers
Views range from Cantor's "buy the dip" to Moody's warning about concentrated risk. Stocks fell 8-13% and Bitcoin only 4%, and that gap explains why banks tell clients to look at proxies. The test is the $75,000-77,000 range that Compass Point watches. If Bitcoin holds it and Binance pays out the reimbursements, Friday's panic will look short.
Comments
Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *