Binance says crypto worth $6.3bn impacted by hack

On Thursday, Binance, the leading cryptocurrency exchange, announced that a "security incident" on its platform has affected approximately $6.3 billion (£4.7 billion) worth of assets. The company revealed that around half of the impacted assets have been frozen with assistance from other exchanges, assuring users that it will "cover all losses."

Initial investigations suggest that the breach may have originated from a compromised engineer's laptop, which enabled unauthorized withdrawals. Binance confirmed that this incident pertains specifically to Binance.com, while its smaller counterpart, Binance.US, which caters to American users, stated that it remains unaffected by the situation.

Changpeng Zhao, the former CEO of Binance, who is commonly referred to as CZ and still holds a significant stake in the company, expressed on social media platform X, "It does look like a hack." The exchange indicated that the total amount of frozen funds could rise as the inquiry progresses. Binance plans to publish a comprehensive report once the investigation concludes and has urged users to rely solely on its official communications for updates.

Yi He, co-CEO of Binance, took to social media to thank various cryptocurrency issuers for their prompt action in freezing assets. "Safety first: withdrawals are currently disabled until the environment is confirmed to be secure," she stated. Following the news of the incident, Bitcoin's value plummeted by over 4%, with other significant cryptocurrencies such as Ethereum and Solana also experiencing sharp declines.

TRM Labs, a firm specializing in finance and AI investigations, has attributed the hack to a North Korean hacking group known as TraderTraitor. In their report, TRM expressed a high level of confidence in this assessment, noting that aspects of the attack bear similarities to previous incidents linked to North Korean operatives, including the Bybit hack in 2025. Ari Redbord, the chief policy officer at TRM, described the Binance breach as a "watershed moment" for the cryptocurrency industry, marking it as unprecedented. He also highlighted that the attacker still possesses a significant amount of stolen assets, complicating efforts to trace and recover the funds.

While Binance did not directly address inquiries regarding potential connections to North Korea, the company stated, "We are working closely with our law enforcement partners to confirm the identity of these criminals and bring them to justice." In response to the potential hack, two other prominent cryptocurrency platforms, Tether and Circle, announced that they had frozen a combined total of around $2.4 billion in assets.

Circle's CEO, Jeremy Allaire, mentioned that his firm is "closely tracking reports of a potential exploit involving Binance," revealing that they have frozen over $800 million in assets associated with the incident. Circle is known for issuing USDC, one of the largest cryptocurrencies pegged to the US dollar. Tether's CEO, Paolo Ardoino, confirmed that his company has frozen approximately $1.6 billion in assets "related to a potential Binance exchange hack," emphasizing the importance of protecting the industry and its partners.

World Liberty Financial, a cryptocurrency company linked to former President Donald Trump and his family, also reported that it had collaborated with partners to freeze the stolen funds. Meanwhile, Coinbase stated that it was not impacted by the incident but is closely monitoring the ongoing situation.

Prior to Binance's confirmation of the security breach, several observers in the cryptocurrency sector had raised alarms about a possible hack. Founded in China by Zhao in 2017, Binance facilitates the trading of digital assets and is estimated to have over 300 million registered users globally. The exchange has faced regulatory scrutiny in various countries. As of 2024, Binance reported having more than $160 billion in assets under custody.