The biggest crypto heist on record is still hanging around as people book flights to WSOP Paradise at Baha Mar. On October 29, attackers drained roughly $6.3–6.4 billion from Binance hot wallets across about ten chains in a short window. Solana was one of them. Trackers put the SOL piece at around 970,500 tokens, or roughly $96 million, coming straight out of Binance-controlled addresses. Firms have linked the job to North Korean-linked actors. Binance has treated it as an exchange problem, not a blockchain one, and has said its users won’t eat the losses.
By early November the exchange said it had already replaced about 90 percent of what was taken by buying the tokens back with its own money. It listed the big ones — BTC, ETH, USDT, BNB, SOL, USDC, XRP and a few others — as fully backed again. The last 10 percent is thinner, less-liquid stuff that takes longer to source. Binance set aside more than $6.34 billion for the job, pulling from its Secure Asset Fund for Users, part of its futures insurance fund, and corporate treasury.
Roughly $3 billion of the stolen funds have been frozen on-chain, mostly stablecoins that issuers can lock. Native coins like SOL, BTC, and ETH can’t be frozen the same way, so getting those back is slower and less certain. Binance has been clear that it’s covering the shortfall itself rather than leaving customers short. Withdrawals were expected to come back online around November 1 once the security work was finished.
None of that is a Solana network problem. The chain itself wasn’t compromised. What happened was a centralized exchange losing control of its own hot wallets.
Binance warns iPhone users
On November 10, Binance put out a separate warning aimed at iPhone users. The exchange flagged an iOS vulnerability called “worse_query” that affects versions 26.7.1, 27.0.1, and 27.2. The bug is a sandbox escape that could let a malicious app read local files from other apps, potentially exposing seed phrases, private keys, and login credentials stored on the device. Binance stressed that this is an Apple operating-system issue, not something unique to its own app, and said it had not seen any confirmed cases of attackers using it to steal crypto. The recommended steps are straightforward: delete any sideloaded or untrusted apps, update iOS and all apps to the latest official versions, and if you think your device might be compromised, move funds to a new wallet created on a clean device and reset active sessions. Apple has not publicly confirmed the flaw by name in its recent security notes.
The Foxens step in for Paradise
That distinction between exchange problems, device bugs, and the actual network is getting some practical airtime right now because Alex and Kristen Foxen both announced this week that they’re partnering with Solana ahead of the Bahamas. Alex posted that moving money across borders has always been one of the more annoying parts of playing professionally, and that teaming up with Solana and WSOP to smooth out crypto buy-ins, starting at Paradise, feels like “real progress.”
Kristen put it the same way: anyone who’s played internationally knows the headache of getting buy-in money where it needs to be, and Solana’s work with WSOP is supposed to make the Bahamas version simpler. She also dropped a short video walking through the WSOP Live app flow.
While financial details related to the Foxen’s partnership with Solana weren’t disclosed, the news is being well received, especially by traveling high-stakes pros who have been asking for more convenient buy-in options for a while.
How the Paradise option actually works
Solana is the presenting sponsor for the 2026 WSOP and for Paradise. Players can buy into events with SOL or Solana stablecoins through Solana Pay (and MoonPay) inside the WSOP app. The money leaves the player’s own wallet and goes straight into the payment flow. It does not sit on Binance or any other exchange first. Traditional methods such as cards, wires, the cage, are still right there next to the crypto choice. Payouts can come back as stablecoins on Solana as well.
That’s the part that separates it from the Binance mess. Someone using the Paradise crypto option is moving funds they already control, not depositing into a centralized exchange and hoping the exchange’s withdrawal system holds. The stablecoin side also has the same freeze capability that helped lock a big chunk of the Binance-stolen USDT and USDC. It’s not risk-free, nothing is, but it’s a different risk profile. The iPhone warning is another reminder that the device you use matters as much as the chain or the exchange.
What players actually need to know
If you’re heading to Nassau and thinking about the Solana route, the practical checklist hasn’t changed much. Use a wallet you control (hardware if the amount is big enough to care about). Double-check the address every time. Don’t leave serious money sitting on any exchange if you don’t have to. Stick with the regular payment methods if crypto still feels like extra work. And if you’re on an iPhone, check for sideloaded apps and make sure you’re on a current iOS version.
Binance’s hot-wallet problem is still the largest exchange loss on record, and the recovery work is ongoing. The separate iOS warning is just another reason to keep your own keys and your own device locked down. None of it rewrites the fact that the Paradise crypto option is optional, runs from a player-controlled wallet, and sits outside the exchange that got hit.
Players who want the speed can take it. Players who don’t can ignore it. Either way the tables are the same. The choice stays with the person sitting down.
SOLANA did not respond to a request for comment at the time of this writing
