Decentralized prediction markets platform Polymarket suspended international trading on Thursday following a security compromise at an external third-party vendor that resulted in user funds being drained. The emergency pause lasted for an hour, during which platform operators investigated the breach and subsequently pledged that all affected users would be made whole.

Why did Polymarket suspend trading and what caused the breach?

Polymarket halted operations after detecting unauthorized withdrawals stemming from a security flaw at an external service provider rather than a failure of the prediction platform's own core infrastructure. According to CNBC and other reporting outlets, the security breach allowed hackers to swipe funds directly from user accounts, prompting an immediate intervention by platform executives who referred the matter to authorities in the United Kingdom.

Watch: Polymarket Breach: Trading Restored, $2.7M Loss Estimate — Forever Desk

How much money was stolen and who is affected?

Financial losses and total affected user accounts remain subject to varying estimates across different news organizations. While some reports from outlets like 디지털투데이 pointed to a figure of $2.65 million stolen in the breach, the broader ecosystem was rattled by simultaneous turmoil. Business Insider and other publications noted that Binance was simultaneously investigating a massive security incident involving billions of dollars, creating widespread panic that sent major cryptocurrencies including bitcoin and ether tumbling.

Polymarket halted international trading after hackers drained accounts, with platform executives referring the ongoing security matter to U.K. authorities while promising reimbursement for all impacted users.

What is the wider market context surrounding these exploits?

The Polymarket vendor breach coincided with intense market-wide volatility driven by a massive wallet scare at Binance, where hackers attempted to launder billions through decentralized exchanges by swapping freezable stablecoins for Ethereum, as tracked by Etherscan records. Coindesk and The Defiant reported that the Binance-related wallet compromise involved scale estimates ranging up to $6.3 billion, with Binance freezing roughly $3 billion of the affected assets. Standard Chartered analysts have since warned that the cascading security incidents could trigger prolonged market pain and stricter regulatory scrutiny across the decentralized finance sector.

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Live data: CoinGecko — 2026-10-30 05:21 UTC