Cryptocurrency exchange Binance was hit by the largest asset theft in its history overnight on October 29−30, CNBC reports.
According to the platform, unidentified hackers breached its systems and triggered mass withdrawals from users' crypto wallets. However, the company said it had found no evidence that users' private wallet keys had been leaked.
The attackers stole a total of $6.3 billion. Binance and its blockchain partners managed to freeze nearly half of the funds, or around $3 billion.
The exchange pledged to cover all losses using its Secure Asset Fund for Users (SAFU) and its own funds. It stressed that users' assets remain safe.
Binance temporarily suspended deposits and withdrawals while security checks were underway. The company also contacted blockchain analytics firms and law enforcement agencies to trace and recover the stolen assets.
Citing a preliminary investigation, Binance said the security breach was linked to a “compromised laptop belonging to a DevOps engineer”, which hackers used to gain access to its systems.
The platform later said that user deposits had not been affected and continued to operate normally. Binance expects to resume withdrawals within 48 hours after upgrading the relevant security systems.
The company is tracing the full attack path through the compromised computer and plans to publish a detailed report identifying the root cause. It said the incident resulted from “multiple factors”.
News of the hack sent several cryptocurrencies lower. According to CoinMarketCap, Bitcoin fell 2.3% over 24 hours to $78,430, after dropping as low as $76,400 — its lowest level since September.
Ethereum fell below $2,200 for the first time since August before recovering some of its losses. It was trading at around $2,244, down 3.4% on the day. Binance’s native token, BNB, dropped 5% to $717.
What experts have found
According to blockchain analytics firm TRM Labs, most of the funds were withdrawn between 20:05 and 20:25 London time (
The attack was made possible by a compromise of the infrastructure Binance uses to sign transactions from its hot wallets. Experts said preparations for the large-scale breach had begun at least 36 hours earlier.
TRM Labs attributed the hack to TraderTraitor, a North Korean hacking group. The US Federal Bureau of Investigation previously held the group responsible for the February 2025 hack of cryptocurrency exchange Bybit, in which $1.5 billion was stolen.
Ari Redbord, head of global policy at TRM Labs and a former US federal prosecutor, said recovering frozen assets requires several legal procedures. Law enforcement agencies typically obtain a court order or other legal authorisation before taking further action.
According to Redbord, stablecoins such as USDC and USDT are generally easier to recover because their issuers can freeze the assets. Recovering Bitcoin or Ethereum, however, requires tracing the funds through cryptocurrency exchanges and other services.
The English version of this material was generated with the assistance of AI translation tools and may differ slightly from the original text.
