Hackers steal $6.3 billion from Binance in record heist blamed on North Korea

SINGAPORE/PARIS/BOSTON: Hackers stole $6.3 billion from Binance, the world’s biggest cryptocurrency exchange, in a theft that analysts blamed on North Korea and said could be the largest financial heist of all time.

Cryptocurrency prices fell ​on the news, while Binance halted withdrawals and said it would use company funds to cover the losses. Stablecoin issuers including El Salvador-based Tether and the Trump-backed World Liberty Financial froze about half of the stolen assets.

The exchange said customer funds were safe and it was working with partners to freeze some of the affected assets, with about $3 billion located so far. It said earlier on Friday it expected to resume withdrawal services in the next 48 hours. It did not mention the status of the remaining $3.3 billion.

Binance said it had set aside around $6.34 billion of company funds internally to cover the losses. The company has a $1 billion bitcoin reserve fund designed to protect customer assets in the event of security breaches, according to its website. Binance founder Changpeng Zhao said on X that the company owned SpaceX shares worth more than $1 billion.

“We NEVER use any customer funds, so they are not impacted,” Binance co-CEO Richard Teng said ‌in a post on ‌X.

Teng described the breach as a “complex attack” that was not carried out by one person and ​included ‌a ⁠compromised laptop ​as well ⁠as malicious software designed to delete traces and evidence of its activity as it went along, “making it more difficult for us to trace and investigate.”

The hackers were able to manipulate a system used to approve transactions to move money out of a Binance-controlled, Internet-connected wallet in a way that did not pass through normal approval controls, Teng said.

Stablecoin issuer Tether said it had frozen nearly $1.57 billion in assets linked to the incident, while Circle froze more than $800 million.

Biggest hack in history

The incident adds to a string of crypto thefts. Last year, attackers stole $2.9 billion worth of cryptocurrency across nearly 150 attacks, according to researchers at TRM Labs.

The bulk of the Binance heist unfolded in around 20 minutes beginning late on Thursday and bore similarities to previous large attacks blamed on North Korea, according to US blockchain analysis firms TRM Labs ⁠and Chainalysis.

TRM said the attackers were able to order Binance wallets to empty into hacker-controlled wallets, mirroring a ‌2025 heist at crypto exchange Bybit, which the FBI attributed to North Korea.

“TRM attributes the attack ‌to ... North Korea’s elite hacking unit,” the firm said in an analysis on its website. Both TRM ​and Chainalysis said they were highly confident North Korea was responsible.

“This incident ‌is almost certainly the single largest known theft of any kind,” British blockchain analysts Elliptic said.

North Korea has for years used state-linked cyber units for ‌espionage, financial theft and revenue, according to US and South Korean authorities as well as cybersecurity experts.

North Korea routinely denies that. Its mission in Geneva and embassy in China did not respond to requests for comment.

The FBI said it was “aware of the incident and is engaged with relevant public and private partners to understand the scope of the activity, evaluate potential impacts, and coordinate appropriate ‌investigative steps.”

The USSS did not respond to an emailed request for comment.

Abu Dhabi’s Financial Services Regulatory Authority, which issued Binance’s main operating license, said it was “engaging closely with Binance and monitoring the incident.”

“It’s the biggest ⁠hack in history,” Aravind Srinivasan at market ⁠maker GSR said, as crypto prices fell broadly.

Bitcoin hit a six-week low of $76,368 and ether fell more than 3 percent to a two-month low of $2,178 before markets stabilized.