What we know so far: Binance, the world's largest crypto exchange, has suffered a cyberattack believed to be the largest crypto theft in history. Crypto worth more than $6 billion has been stolen from the platform, which initially suspended customer deposits and withdrawals. It's believed that a North Korean hacking unit was responsible for the attack.
Blockchain intelligence firm TRM Labs puts the haul at approximately $6.36 billion, taken from Binance wallets across ten blockchains on October 29. Most of the money was moved in about 20 minutes. The firm attributes the attack to TraderTraitor, a North Korean hacking unit, with high confidence.
There is some good news for customers. Binance says it has worked with blockchain partners to freeze roughly $3 billion in affected assets and will cover all losses. Deposits are now operating normally, although withdrawals remain suspended. The exchange said on Friday that it expected withdrawals to resume within the next day or two.
The initial investigation pointed to a compromised laptop belonging to a DevOps engineer. Binance said this allowed an attacker to access a service container and submit unauthorized withdrawals. It added that it had found no evidence that wallet private keys had leaked.
However, the company subsequently said investigators had uncovered additional points of breach, describing the incident as a complex attack – so the compromised laptop is unlikely to be the whole story. Binance has promised to release more technical details once its investigation is complete and the findings have been verified.
Elliptic also suspects North Korea was responsible. The blockchain analytics company says the attacker funded a wallet using small withdrawals from Tornado Cash, rehearsed the attack in advance, and executed previously signed transactions in a single burst.
The amount stolen is more than four times the $1.5 billion taken in the Bybit hack in February 2025, which was the largest crypto heist at the time. That attack targeted a cold wallet during a transfer, prompting a rush of customer withdrawals and assurances that the exchange could cover its losses.
Binance has been here before, albeit on a much smaller scale. In May 2019, hackers stole 7,000 bitcoins worth around $40.7 million from its hot wallet. The attackers also obtained user API keys and two-factor authentication codes. Binance used its emergency fund to cover that theft.
