Binance Hit by $6.3 Billion Security Breach in Record Crypto Heist

Binance, the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange, has suffered a security breach involving an estimated $6.3 billion in digital assets. Blockchain analysts say the incident could be the largest cryptocurrency theft on record.

Blockchain intelligence firms TRM Labs and Chainalysis attributed the attack to North Korea. TRM said the attacker moved approximately $6.36 billion from Binance wallets across 10 blockchains, transferring most of the funds within about 20 minutes.

Binance said it was working with industry partners to trace and freeze the affected assets. The exchange reported that approximately $3 billion had been located, although it did not clarify the status of the remaining $3.3 billion.

Co-founder Yi He said Binance would cover “all hacking losses”. The exchange also said user funds remained safe and expected to resume withdrawal services within 48 hours.

North Korean Hackers Suspected

TRM Labs attributed the attack to TraderTraitor, a North Korean hacking group. The firm said several features of the incident resembled previous attacks linked to Pyongyang.

These similarities included the preparation of attacker-controlled wallets and the rapid movement of stolen funds. TRM said it made the attribution with high confidence.

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The US Federal Bureau of Investigation previously attributed the February 2025 Bybit hack to North Korean hackers. That incident involved approximately $1.5 billion in stolen cryptocurrency.

North Korea’s mission in Geneva and its embassy in China did not immediately respond to Reuters requests for comment.

Compromised Engineer’s Laptop Under Investigation

Binance said an initial investigation suggested that a compromised laptop belonging to one of its engineers may have provided the attackers with access to an internal system.

The attackers then allegedly used that access to initiate unauthorised withdrawals.

“The incident stems from multiple factors. Our security team is tracing the full attack path through the compromised computer, which may be the entry point of the incident,” Binance said.

The exchange has not confirmed the full sequence of events. It also said there was no indication that wallet private keys had been leaked.

Crypto Firms Freeze Billions in Assets

Several cryptocurrency companies and service providers moved to restrict the movement of funds linked to the breach.

Tether froze nearly $1.57 billion in assets, while Circle blocked more than $800 million. Ripple and World Liberty Financial also reported freezing funds connected to the incident.

Binance co-founder Yi He said approximately $27 million in stablecoins and about $2 million worth of World Liberty tokens had been frozen. Ripple also helped prevent additional funds from moving.

TRM’s subsequent analysis put the total amount frozen or secured across stablecoin issuers and the Arbitrum network at roughly $2.7 billion.

Binance operates a Secure Asset Fund for Users (SAFU), a reserve intended to protect customers during security incidents. The exchange holds the fund entirely in Bitcoin, according to its website.

Cryptocurrency Markets React to the Breach

The security incident unsettled cryptocurrency markets during Asian trading on Friday.

Bitcoin fell more than 3% to a six-week low of $76,368. Ether also dropped more than 3%, reaching a two-month low of $2,178.

BNB, the token associated with Binance, fell 5% over 24 hours to $709.70, according to CoinGecko.

Shares in cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase fell 4.8%. Shares in Strategy, a major corporate Bitcoin holder, also declined nearly 6% in extended US trading.

Analysts warned that the breach could weaken investor confidence in centralised cryptocurrency exchanges.

Tim Sun, senior researcher at Hong Kong-based HashKey Group, said the incident could prompt investors to reassess the risks of holding assets on exchanges. These include counterparty, solvency and liquidity risks.

Industry Experts Warn of Growing Cybersecurity Threats

The breach adds to a series of major cryptocurrency thefts.

Researchers at TRM Labs estimated that hackers stole $2.9 billion across nearly 150 attacks last year. In September, cryptocurrency exchange Bitget also reported a theft of approximately $350 million.

Bernardo Brites, chief executive of payments and stablecoin infrastructure company Trace Finance, said artificial intelligence could make it harder for companies to identify and fix security vulnerabilities.

He warned that the incident could push users away from smaller and medium-sized exchanges.

Miguel Morel, chief executive of blockchain intelligence firm Arkham, said blockchain data indicated that billions of dollars had moved from Binance wallets to an unknown attacker.

Binance Says User Funds Remain Safe

Binance said customer funds remained safe and that it was coordinating with partners to recover or freeze the affected assets.

The exchange has approximately 335 million registered users worldwide. Its 2025 annual report showed about $162.8 billion in assets under custody.

Binance.US, a separate exchange, said the incident had not affected its operations. Coinbase also confirmed that it was unaffected and was monitoring developments.

The breach has renewed questions about the security of centralised exchanges and the risks associated with digital asset custody.

Investigators and blockchain analysis firms continue to trace the stolen funds. The full extent of the incident and the recovery of the remaining assets remain under review.