Binance Reports $6.3 Billion Crypto Heist in Record-Breaking Breach

Binance disclosed late Thursday that $6.3 billion in user funds had been impacted by an attacker, marking the largest theft of digital currencies in history. The world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange initially reported that an intruder compromised an engineer’s laptop to enable unauthorized withdrawals. By early Friday, the company revised its assessment, stating the hack involved additional points of breach beyond the initial laptop access.

The incident triggered immediate action across the crypto industry on Thursday as firms moved to secure assets. Tether and Circle, which issue stablecoins pegged to the U.S. dollar, froze more than $1.57 billion and $800 million, respectively. World Liberty Financial, a crypto firm with Trump family members among its co-founders, froze $27 million in related funds. These rapid freezes accounted for approximately 40% of the stolen money within hours of the breach.

Cybersecurity threat analysis firms TRM Labs and Pangolin Intelligence attributed the attack to TraderTraitor, a hacker group backed by North Korea. Ari Redbord, TRM’s global head of policy, described the event as a major national security issue rather than just a crypto theft. Redbord noted in an email that the stolen funds likely support weapons proliferation and other destabilizing activities.

Researchers at Chainalysis observed the stolen Binance funds mixing with assets from a separate cryptocurrency breach earlier this month. That earlier incident was also linked to North Korean hackers. Chainalysis reported that the attackers moved funds quickly to non-freezable digital currencies, such as bitcoin, to evade the controls issued by stablecoin companies.

Binance suspended deposits and withdrawals while it investigates the loss. The company stated it will cover user losses using existing funds and a $1 billion bitcoin reserve fund. Binance said its teams are working around the clock with law enforcement partners to identify the criminals.

Changpeng Zhao, the company’s founder and largest shareholder, confirmed the breach on social media. Zhao, who stepped down as CEO in 2023 after pleading guilty to violating U.S. anti-money-laundering guidelines, said the incident appeared to be a hack on Binance. He was later pardoned by President Donald Trump.

Binance handles an average daily trading volume of about $95 billion. Its U.S. platform, Binance.US, stated it was not affected by the breach. TraderTraitor is also responsible for a $1.5 billion theft from Bybit in 2025 and a $600 million steal from a cryptocurrency-based video game.