Binance confirms record $6.3 bn crypto hack

Largest crypto heist on record

Cryptocurrency platform Binance confirmed on Thursday that it had fallen victim to a massive security breach impacting approximately $6.3 billion in funds, an amount four times larger than the previous record cyberattack targeting the Bybit platform in February 2025. The company, which operates the world's largest crypto exchange by daily trading volumes, initially posted conflicting messages on its X account, insisting that "user funds are completely safe" while simultaneously pledging that it would "cover all losses."

The exchange later clarified through its Latin America X account that "the total estimated impact is around $6.3 billion," adding that blockchain partners had helped freeze approximately $3 billion on-chain. Stablecoin issuers Tether and Circle reported freezing roughly $1.6 billion and $800 million respectively in USDT and USDC tokens connected to the incident, according to statements from their chief executives.

North Korean hackers suspected

Blockchain investigation firm TRM Labs said Thursday it had "high confidence" that the attack was orchestrated by TraderTraitor, a hacking group affiliated with North Korea's Lazarus Group, citing "robust on and off-chain intelligence." "Several features of this attack match earlier North Korea-linked heists," the firm noted, drawing parallels to the $1.5 billion Bybit theft attributed to the same actors.

An initial investigation by Binance suggested the breach involved a compromised laptop belonging to a "DevOps engineer," which allowed unauthorized access to a "service container" and the execution of fraudulent withdrawal transactions. "We have found no evidence of any private key leaks from wallets," the company said, promising to share a detailed technical analysis once investigations conclude.

Markets react to security breach

The prices of most major cryptocurrencies fell sharply following news of the cyberattack, with bitcoin and Ethereum both plunging nearly five and six percent respectively before recovering to trade down 0.8 percent by early Friday. BNB, the native token of Binance, tumbled nearly 10 percent immediately after the announcement but later rebounded to post gains of 2.7 percent, while stablecoins maintained their pegs to the US dollar.

At approximately 0030 GMT Friday, Binance announced that all deposits and withdrawals had been "temporarily suspended while our team conducts security checks, freezes funds and works with law enforcement." "This figure may continue to increase as our teams work closely with law enforcement, issuers, blockchain intelligence firms and industry partners to trace and freeze additional assets," the company added, noting that former chief Changpeng Zhao had acknowledged that "it does look like a hack on Binance."