Binance says $6.3bn stolen in hack analysts link to North Korea
Binance says about $6.3bn was stolen in a security breach and that it will cover all customer losses, as analysts link the attack to North Korean state-backed hackers.
Binance, the world's largest cryptocurrency exchange, says about $6.3bn in funds was stolen in a security incident that analysts describe as the largest crypto theft on record. Estimates of the total differ: the blockchain analysis firm Chainalysis put the amount at about $5.912bn at the time of the theft, AFP reported.
The breach and Binance's response
The attack happened late on Thursday, October 29, according to The Guardian. Binance first said it was investigating reports of "a potential security issue" and that user funds were safe. It then said it had suspended deposits and withdrawals, and that about $3bn of the affected assets had been frozen.
Binance said an initial investigation suggested an attacker had gained access to one of its systems through a compromised laptop belonging to one of its engineers, and had made unauthorised withdrawals. The company later said there had been "additional points of breach". It said it would cover all customer losses, that it had found no evidence of any wallet private key leaking, and that it would publish a detailed technical post-mortem once the investigation was complete.
Changpeng Zhao, Binance's founder and largest shareholder, had said earlier that the exchange appeared to have been hacked. Binance says it is working with law enforcement and blockchain intelligence firms to trace and recover the stolen funds.
Binance co-founder Yi He later said deposits were operating normally and that the exchange expected to begin resuming withdrawals within 48 hours, CNBC reported.
Attack linked to North Korea
The blockchain intelligence firm TRM said it assessed with "high confidence" that the attack was carried out by TraderTraitor, a North Korean hacking unit that investigators have linked to the Lazarus Group. Chainalysis and the consultancy Elliptic reached the same conclusion, according to The Guardian.
Ari Redbord, TRM's global head of policy, called the attack a "watershed". He told Al Jazeera that when North Korea steals on this scale, the money funds weapons proliferation and other destabilising activity. Tom Robinson, Elliptic's chief scientist, told The Guardian it was almost certainly the largest theft of any kind in history.
The previous record crypto theft was the roughly $1.5bn taken from the Dubai-based exchange Bybit in 2025, which the FBI attributed to North Korea.
Market reaction
The price of Bitcoin fell about 5 percent after the theft, dropping below $77,000, Al Jazeera reported. Several crypto firms, including the stablecoin issuers Circle and Tether as well as Ripple, froze funds tied to the hack, according to CNBC.