Binance says hackers stole $6.3bn in record crypto heist

Binance says hackers stole about $6.3bn from its wallets in what appears to be the largest cryptocurrency theft on record. The exchange suspended deposits and withdrawals on Thursday as it worked to contain the breach and trace the missing assets. It also said it would cover all losses and told users their funds were safe.

The theft was first identified by blockchain analysis firms TRM Labs and Chainalysis, which said most of it unfolded over about 20 minutes starting late on Thursday. TRM said an attacker moved approximately $6.36bn out of Binance wallets across 10 blockchains. Binance has said the figure may continue to rise as it works to freeze more assets and follow the trail of the stolen funds.

Binance said about $3bn of the stolen assets had already been frozen, including more than $2.3bn by stablecoin issuers Tether and Circle. The company has not said what happened to the remaining $3.3bn. The exchange also said it was continuing to investigate the incident and had not attributed responsibility to any individual.

The scale of the theft is significant for the wider crypto market because Binance is the world's largest cryptocurrency exchange by trading volume. A breach of this size can affect confidence in digital asset platforms, especially when withdrawals are halted and large sums must be traced across multiple blockchains. It also highlights the continuing challenge of recovering stolen crypto once funds have been moved quickly through decentralised networks.

TRM Labs said it assessed with high confidence that the attack was carried out by TraderTraitor, a North Korean hacking unit linked to the Lazarus Group. Chainalysis also linked the attack to North Korea, while North Korea routinely denies involvement in hacking. The Lazarus Group has previously been sanctioned by the US Treasury, which said in 2019 that it was controlled by North Korea's primary intelligence bureau.

The attack comes after a series of major crypto thefts that have raised pressure on exchanges and stablecoin issuers to improve monitoring and freezing tools. TRM said the method mirrored the Bybit hack in 2025, which the FBI also blamed on the same unit. Binance has not said when normal withdrawals and deposits will resume, and it remains unclear how much of the stolen money can still be recovered.

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