Binance hit by record $6.3 bn crypto theft; North Korea suspected

Binance halted withdrawals after hackers stole $6.3 billion in a record crypto heist, with analysts suspecting North Korea. The exchange said it would cover losses as cryptocurrency prices fell.

Hackers stole $6.3 billion from Binance, the world’s biggest cryptocurrency exchange, in a record theft that analysts pinned on North Korea and said could shake faith in digital assets.

 

Cryptocurrency prices fell on the news, while Binance halted withdrawals and said it would cover the losses. About half the stolen assets were quickly frozen by stablecoin issuers such as Tether, Circle and the Trump-backed World Liberty Financial.

 

“This was a complex attack, and we are doing all we can in coordination with law enforcement to resolve it,” Binance said in a post on X.

 

The exchange said customer funds were safe and that it was working with partners to freeze some of the affected assets, with about $3 billion located so far. It expects to resume withdrawal services in the next 45 hours. It did not mention the status of the remaining $3.3 billion.

 

 

Binance runs a secure asset fund for users, a $1 billion bitcoin reserve designed to protect customer assets in the event of security breaches, according to its website.

 

Co-CEO Teng said that “and company funds” would cover losses.

 

The bulk of the heist unfolded in around 20 minutes beginning late on Thursday and bore similarities to previous large attacks blamed on North Korea, according to US blockchain analysis firms TRM Labs and Chainalysis.

 

TRM said the attackers were able to order wallets that Binance uses to empty into hacker-controlled wallets, mirroring a 2025 heist at crypto exchange Bybit, which the US Federal Bureau of Investigation attributed to North Korea.

 

“TRM attributes the attack to... North Korea’s elite hacking unit,” the firm said in an analysis of the hack posted to its website. Both TRM and Chainalysis said they were highly confident North Korea was responsible.

 

North Korea has for years used state-linked cyber units for espionage, financial theft and revenue, according to US and South Korean authorities as well as cybersecurity experts.

 

North Korea routinely denies that. Its mission in Geneva and embassy in China did not immediately respond to Reuters’ requests for comment.

 

“Your money is safe and we’re covering every loss,” Teng said on X. “Our investigation has not attributed responsibility to any individual.”

 

“It’s the biggest hack in history,” Aravind Srinivasan at market maker GSR said as crypto prices fell broadly.

 

Bitcoin hit a six-week low of $76,368 and ether fell more than 3 per cent to a two-month low of $2,178 before markets stabilised.

 

BNB, a token originally launched as Binance Coin that can be used to pay Binance fees, was down 5 per cent over the past 24 hours at $709.70, according to CoinGecko, while shaky confidence hit listed crypto exchange shares.

 

An initial investigation suggested the breach may have started with a hacked laptop belonging to one of Binance’s engineers, which let an attacker gain access to one of its systems and make unauthorized withdrawals, Binance said.

 

“Our security team is tracing the full attack path through the compromised computer which may be the entry point of the incident,” Binance said. Later, the company added it had uncovered additional points of breach.

 

Mark Karpeles, former chief of defunct Tokyo-based bitcoin exchange Mt Gox, which collapsed a dozen years ago after $500 million in bitcoin was stolen, said attackers probably accessed private keys for at least two Binance wallets.

 

“Binance appears to have split its assets across multiple systems, ensuring a hack can only affect a part of the assets, but even so a single hack is a large loss,” he said.

 

The incident adds to a string of crypto thefts. Last year, attackers stole $2.9 billion worth of cryptocurrency across nearly 150 attacks, according to researchers at TRM Labs.

 

In September, Bitget said roughly $350 million in crypto had been stolen from its platform, underscoring the industry's vulnerability to hackers.

 

“The broader credit and industry implications will depend on the ultimate losses, affected counterparties, asset recovery, and importantly, whether the incident leads to wider disruption across the digital-asset ecosystem,” said Cristiano Ventricelli, vice president, digital assets at Moody’s Ratings.