Political reaction follows record hack
The $6.3 billion Binance hack, the largest in crypto history, quickly turned into a political story in Washington. Voting in the US election was already underway in many places, and officials from both parties started responding within hours. President Donald Trump was asked about the attack at a news conference on Friday. He said the administration was looking into it and noted that Binance had said it would get the funds back and guarantee losses. It is not clear yet whether the hack will move voters, but it has given both sides a fresh argument.
Binance said late Friday that it would cover any losses. The exchange wrote on X that it would absorb the financial impact of the stolen funds, not its users. It also said about $3 billion of the stolen money had already been frozen in various locations. The company said it was working with law enforcement, blockchain intelligence firms, token issuers and other exchanges to trace and recover the rest. Binance also promised a postmortem report after a full security review, with details on what happened and what safeguards it plans to add.
Clarity Act fight returns
Wyoming Senator Cynthia Lummis, a Republican and longtime crypto advocate, pointed to the stalled Clarity Act in a Friday post on X. She said the bill would have given crypto firms legal cover to freeze suspicious transactions as soon as law enforcement called. The Senate failed to pass a cloture motion on the bill on Sept. 15. The measure had stalled over proposed ethics provisions that would restrict government officials and their families from issuing or profiting from digital assets while in office.
On the regulatory side, CFTC Chair Michael Selig said the Binance hack proved his point about proposing rules for crypto markets. He argued that the real issue is unregulated offshore exchanges, which do not have the same safeguards as US financial markets. The CFTC had sent a regulatory action on crypto asset transactions and markets to the White House for review on Sept. 18.
Waters cites Trump family ties
Democratic Representative Maxine Waters said the hack should be a wake-up call for anyone who thinks the crypto industry can operate without strong accountability. She criticized Trump and Congressional Republicans for pushing a deregulatory agenda that she said weakens compliance and oversight. Waters also brought up past ties between Binance and the Trump family. She said that after Binance owner Changpeng Zhao gave more than $2 billion to the Trump family’s World Liberty Financial, the SEC dropped its fraud case against Binance and Zhao, and Trump pardoned Zhao. Binance has said it is cooperating with investigators and will publish more details after its review. For now, the political fight over crypto is moving faster than the recovery effort.
