Binance Targeted in Massive $6.3 Billion Crypto Hack
Binance, the world’s leading cryptocurrency trading platform, has announced that $6.3 billion (£4.7 billion) in digital assets was compromised in what is being described as the largest hack in history. In a series of posts, Yi He, Binance’s co-chief executive, thanked various cryptocurrency issuers for freezing the assets. According to two other major crypto platforms, Tether and Circle,, They have frozen a total of about $2.4bn of assets in response to the potential Binance hack. One of the world’s largest US dollar-backed cryptocurrencies, circle is the issuer and co-creator of the USDC.
The exchange confirmed that roughly half of the impacted funds have already been frozen through the assistance of other industry partners.
Management has pledged to cover all losses resulting from the incident.
Initial internal investigations suggest that an attacker gained unauthorized access to the system by compromising an engineer’s laptop, which facilitated the illegal withdrawals. The breach is currently being attributed to TraderTraitor, a North Korean hacking unit, by the AI-powered research firm TRM Labs. Analysts noted that the tactics mirror those seen during the $1.5 billion hack on Bybit in 2025. According to we make this judgment with high confidence,” TRM, In a report, adding that several elements of the attack resemble earlier North Korean-linked incidents, including the Bybit hack.
TRM Labs described the event as a watershed moment for the digital asset industry.
Ari Redbord, the firm’s chief policy officer, emphasized that the scale of the theft is unprecedented and noted that tracing the remaining stolen assets remains a complex, ongoing challenge. Meaning efforts to trace and recover the funds are far from over, Redbord added, the attacker still holds an enormous sum of stolen assets.
While Binance has not directly commented on the suspected North Korean link, the company stated it is working closely with law enforcement to identify and prosecute the perpetrators. Binance did not directly respond to queries about the incident’s potential links to North Korea but said: “We are working closely with our law enforcement partners to confirm the identity of these criminals and bring them to justice. According to protecting the industry and our partners is our main priority,”, Ardoino, whose company issues a cryptocurrency known as USDT.
Security and Recovery Measures
- Co-CEO Yi He: Confirmed that withdrawals are disabled until security is verified and thanked external partners for their cooperation.
- Tether Action: CEO Paolo Ardoino announced the company has frozen approximately $1.6 billion in assets linked to the breach.
- Circle Action: CEO Jeremy Allaire reported the firm has frozen more than $800 million in assets related to the exploit.
The incident is contained to the global Binance.com platform; the US-based entity, Binance.US, remains unaffected by the breach. World Liberty Financial, a crypto firm associated with Donald Trump and his family, also reported active cooperation with partners to help secure stolen funds. Conversely, Coinbase confirmed its operations were not impacted and that it continues to monitor the situation.
Founded in China in 2017, Binance manages more than 300 million registered users and reported holding over $160 billion in assets under custody as of 2024. The exchange has frequently faced global regulatory scrutiny. Following the disclosure, market volatility intensified as Bitcoin prices dropped by more than 4%, with sharp declines also recorded in Ethereum and Solana.
