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Binance Reports $6.3 Billion in Digital Assets Impacted by Suspected Hack
· Confirmed
In Short: Cryptocurrency giant Binance reported Thursday that $6.3 billion in digital assets were impacted by what it described as the largest hack in history.
Cryptocurrency giant Binance reported Thursday that $6.3 billion in digital assets were impacted by what it described as the largest hack in history.
AI-powered investigations company TRM Labs attributed the incident to a North Korean hacking unit called TraderTraitor, which is linked to the Lazarus Group. TRM said it made this judgment with high confidence, noting several elements of the attack resembled earlier North Korean-linked incidents.
Binance said early checks indicated the incident may have involved an engineer's compromised laptop, which allowed an attacker to make unauthorized withdrawals.
The company said it would cover all losses, adding that user funds were 'safe.' Binance also suspended all deposits and withdrawals, and about $3 billion in funds had been frozen following the apparent hacking.
Circle and Tether, two major crypto platforms, froze a total of about $2.4 billion of assets in response to the potential Binance hack.
Jeremy Allaire, Circle's CEO, said his firm was closely tracking reports of a potential exploit involving Binance and had frozen more than $800 million in assets linked to the incident.
According to blockchain analytics firm Glassnode, the suspected hack initially involved crypto worth $5.3 billion.
Ari Redbord, TRM’s global head of policy, described the attack as 'unprecedented' and a 'watershed' moment for the industry.
The price of Bitcoin, the world’s most popular cryptocurrency, fell about 5 percent following the heist, dropping below $77,000.
Sean Foley, an expert in crypto markets at Macquarie University in Sydney, told Al Jazeera that a blow to confidence in Binance risks shocking confidence to many retail investors, which could dampen prices of crypto assets.
Changpeng Zhao, Binance’s founder and largest shareholder, said earlier that the exchange appeared to have been hacked.
The company said it was working closely with law enforcement partners to confirm the identity of the criminals and bring them to justice.
Background
Cryptocurrency giant Binance reported Thursday that $6.3 billion in digital assets were impacted by what it described as the largest hack in history.
However, the BBC noted that Binance has not specified how much was potentially stolen, while crypto experts estimated the figure at over $5 billion.
What's confirmed
- Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino said his firm has frozen around $1.6bn "related to a potential Binance exchange hack."
- Binance Investigates Possible Hack, Crypto Firms Freeze $2.5 Billion In Funds Binance, the world's largest cryptocurrency exchange, said on Thursday that it is investigating reports of a possible security breach.
- NANTERRE – DNA left on a protective painting cover helped investigators recover two stolen Renoirs and uncover what they suspected were preparations for another art heist, a French prosecutor said Monday.
- The world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange has not explicitly confirmed that funds were stolen, reported news agency AP.
- Cryptocurrency exchange Binance has said that about $6.3bn in funds have been stolen in a “security incident” that looks to be the biggest crypto heist in history.
- Changpeng Zhao, Binance’s founder and largest shareholder, said earlier that the exchange appeared to have been hacked.
- The company said it would cover all losses, adding that user funds were “safe”.
What's still developing
- The attacker still holds an enormous sum of stolen assets, meaning efforts to trace and recover the funds are far from over, Redbord added.
- The cryprocurrency exchange Binance is investigating a suspected hack after billions of dollars moved from wallets associated with the exchange on October 29, 2026.
- Binance spent October 29 telling customers it was looking into a “potential security issue” while stablecoin issuers froze billions of dollars across the market.
- The stolen works, “Madame Colonna Romano” and “Young Woman at the Well” by Impressionist painter Pierre-Auguste Renoir, were valued at about €4.2 million ($4.7 million), Bessone said.
- “When North Korea steals at this scale, the money funds weapons proliferation and other destabilising activity. That makes this a global security issue, not just a crypto theft,” Redbord told Al Jazeera.
- Binance said an initial investigation suggested that a hacker had been able to make unauthorised transactions after gaining access to an engineer’s compromised laptop.
- “Any assets held at a centralised exchange are only as safe as the exchange itself, and the larger the exchange’s holdings, the larger a target it becomes,” Foley said.
- The other, "Young Woman at the Well," had slight damage to its frame, Bessone said.