Aave freezes 292 reserves after Binance exploiter borrows $44.6M

Aave has frozen all DAO-operated markets on V3 and V4, halting new deposits and borrowing. The trigger was a wallet tied to the Binance hack that posted 60 million USDT as collateral and borrowed 19,762 WETH (about $44.6 million). The freeze began around 5:42 PM ET on Oct. 29.

Details

According to a LlamaRisk post on the Aave governance forum (published around 8:59 PM ET on Oct. 29), 175 reserves on Aave V3 across 16 networks and 117 reserves on V4 across four networks are frozen; the Horizon market for tokenized assets keeps running. The loan was taken on Ethereum Core between roughly 4:58 and 5:01 PM ET and is the wallet's only position across all Aave networks and versions. TokenPost puts the start of the freeze at 5:42 PM ET.

Users can still repay debt and withdraw funds, and liquidations keep running. LlamaRisk says the position is backed by $59.9 million of collateral against $43.8 million of debt and poses no risk to suppliers. Markets stay frozen until the exploiter's funds stop moving and Binance gives clarity on containment, followed by a staged reopening. Wu Blockchain also reported the freeze.

What this means for the market

The attacker tried to turn stolen USDT into ETH through DeFi collateral, and the protocol answered with its bluntest tool. For ordinary Aave users it means no new positions until the freeze is lifted; the sources give no timeline. Aave's contracts were not compromised. Follow the Binance hack timeline and the daily brief for updates.