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Binance Reports $6.3 Billion Crypto Theft Likely by North Korean Hackers
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In Short: Binance, the world's largest cryptocurrency exchange, reported a theft of over $6.3 billion in digital assets on October 29, 2026, in what blockchain analysts are calling the largest crypto theft in history.
Binance founder and CEO Changpeng Zhao said the company expects to cover all user funds fully, though the exact details of how this will be accomplished have not been fully disclosed.
According to TRM Labs, attackers moved approximately $6.36 billion out of Binance wallets across 10 blockchains within about 20 minutes.
Binance's initial investigation suggested that an attacker had compromised a software infrastructure engineer's laptop, gaining access to an internal service and submitting unauthorized withdrawals.
The FBI has confirmed that North Korean hackers were responsible for the theft, linking the activity to the regime in Pyongyang.
Binance has replaced approximately 95 percent of the affected assets and is working to cover nearly 100 percent of the losses using its own crypto holdings or by buying them in the market.
Blockchain analytics firm Elliptic reported that stablecoin issuers had frozen about 44% of the stolen money, leaving more than half of the largest crypto theft on record outside anyone’s reach.
Binance is aiming to reopen customer exits within days and has promised to cover all losses from its own funds.
The Financial Services Regulatory Authority in Abu Dhabi, which regulates Binance’s main global crypto exchange, said it was engaging closely with the company to address the security incident.
What this adds
Binance's reserve fund holds about $1 billion worth of bitcoin, which may be used to cover the losses.
The hack is a major blow to Binance, which holds about $140 billion of digital assets and was co-founded in 2017 by Changpeng Zhao.
Background
Cryptocurrency giant Binance said Thursday that $6.3 billion of digital assets were impacted by what it described as the largest hack in history.
What's confirmed
- Blockchain analysts said a North Korean hacking unit was likely behind the theft of more than $6 billion from Binance, the world's largest cryptocurrency exchange.
- Zhao, who founded the Binance platform in 2017, said "as a shareholder, I expect all user funds will be fully covered."
- Jonathan Levin, co-founder and CEO of blockchain analysis company Chainalysis, also said the Binance attack was likely carried out by TraderTraitor.
- Binance said it worked with blockchain partners to freeze roughly $3 billion in affected assets.
- Blockchain intelligence firm TRM Labs linked the hack with a North Korean unit known as TraderTraitor, saying that the sums involved would make it “the largest crypto theft on record.” Last year, North Korean hackers stole crypto worth $1.5 billion in an attack on exchange Bybit.
- Kaitlyn Huamani, Associated Press Kaitlyn Huamani, Associated Press Chan Ho-him, Associated Press Chan Ho-him, Associated Press Binance, the world's biggest cryptocurrency exchange, said Friday that hackers stole more than $6 billion in what appears to be the largest cryptocurrency heist on record.
What's still developing
- Issued on: 30/10/2026 - 14:52 Modified: 30/10/2026 - 14:54 Hackers stole $6.3 billion from Binance, the world's biggest cryptocurrency exchange, in a record digital asset theft.
- Analysts said it could shake faith in crypto and in the exchanges that hold it.
- Binance, the world’s biggest cryptocurrency exchange, reported a security breach worth an estimated $6.3 billion on Thursday, October 29.
- Cryptocurrency firms and investigators are racing to freeze and track down billions of dollars of stolen digital cash following what appears to be the largest crypto heist of all time.
- New York (TIP): Hackers have made off with an estimated $6.3 billion in a suspected cyber heist targeting Binance, the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange.
- The cryprocurrency exchange Binance is investigating a suspected hack after billions of dollars moved from wallets associated with the exchange on October 29, 2026.
- According to blockchain data, the first signs of trouble emerged at 20:20 UTC, when a wallet labeled "Binance 14" was delegated via a relatively new Ethereum feature known as EIP-7702 to an outside smart contract.
- Last month, nearly $390 million was stolen from crypto exchange Bitget, which reimbursed customers from its so-called User Protection Fund.
- Binance’s reserve fund holds about $1 billion worth of bitcoin, according to a company update from mid-October.
- The massive $6.3 billion cryptocurrency hack at Binance is a warning of potentially devastating cyberattacks ahead, according to a financial and reputation management expert who cautioned that the worst may be yet to come.
- Home - Cryptocurrency News - Polymarket Faces $2.68M Theft Allegations Following Security Breach Polymarket restored trading on October 29 after a compromised outside provider disrupted its international prediction market.
- Trump addressed the Binance hack, stating that the U.S. is investigating possible North Korean involvement.