Binance hit by biggest crypto hack ever: $6.3 billion stolen

Crypto exchange Binance has been hit by a massive hack involving an estimated $6.3 billion in crypto assets. According to blockchain researcher TRM Labs, North Korean hackers are behind the attack, which would be the largest crypto theft ever.

Binance has temporarily halted withdrawals and is trying to secure billions of dollars in stolen funds. Meanwhile, the Bitcoin price is also taking a big hit.

Binance, the largest crypto exchange in the world, confirms that the total size of the security incident is estimated at 6.3 billion dollars. The company works with other parties within the crypto sector to prevent the funds involved from being moved further.

According to Binance, about $3 billion of crypto assets on the blockchain have now been frozen.

In addition, the stock exchange has temporarily suspended all withdrawals. Co-founder Yi He expects customers to be able to withdraw money again within 48 hours.

Binance emphasizes that customer balances are safe and promises to fully compensate for any losses. This does not take away the unrest among investors for the time being.

The scale of the attack is exceptional. Until now, the hack at crypto exchange Bybit in February 2025 was considered the largest in history. In addition, almost $1.5 billion in crypto coins were looted.

Based on the initial estimates, the incident at Binance is more than four times as large.

According to TRM Labs, the attack was carried out by TraderTraitor, a hacker group affiliated with North Korea. The research company says with great certainty that it came to that conclusion based on information from blockchain transactions and other sources.

The hackers allegedly gained access to Binance's internal systems. They would then have used software to approve transactions and transfer crypto coins through ten different blockchains, including Bitcoin and Ethereum.

Binance is investigating whether an infected laptop from a software developer played a role. According to the company, there are as yet no indications that private keys of cryptowallets have been leaked.

The issuers of large stablecoins have also intervened. Tether has frozen more than $1.5 billion in affected assets, according to CEO Paolo Ardoino. Circle, the company behind USDC, claims to have secured about $800 million.

The huge hack at Binance is causing considerable turmoil in the crypto market. The Bitcoin price dropped to a low of 76,500 dollars last night, the lowest level since September. Other large crypto coins were also hit hard.

The price drop shows how big the influence of Binance is. As the largest crypto exchange in the world, the platform plays an important role in trading. A hack of this size can therefore affect confidence in the entire crypto market.

According to blockchain researcher TRM Labs, the possibilities for detecting stolen crypto have greatly improved in recent years. Although hackers are working faster and more sophisticated, researchers can now track suspicious transactions almost immediately.

Stablecoin issuers can also intervene quickly by freezing stolen funds. That has already yielded results for Binance. Of the estimated 6.3 billion dollars, about 3 billion dollars has now been blocked.

Binance, meanwhile, is trying to reassure customers. The crypto exchange emphasizes that their balances are safe and promises to fully compensate for any losses.