Cryptocurrency prices fell sharply after Binance, the world’s largest crypto exchange, disclosed a security breach that it estimates affected about $6.3 billion in assets.

Bitcoin dropped 4.5 per cent in 24 hours to $76,664 by 6am UAE time on Friday, according to crypto news website The Block. Ether fell 5.2 per cent to $2,190, while BNB, the token linked to Binance, slid 7.1 per cent to $698.65.

Prices recovered some ground later in the morning. At 7.51am UAE time, bitcoin was trading at $77,984, down 2.2 per cent over 24 hours, according to data platform CoinGecko. Ether was down 3.2 per cent at $2,230 and BNB 3.9 per cent lower at $716.69.

More than $1.5 billion of leveraged positions were liquidated in 24 hours, most of them bets on…