Binance hit by $6.3 billion hack, largest in crypto history, with ties to North Korea, prompting investor concern
Hackers stole $6.3 billion from Binance, the largest cryptocurrency exchange, in what is considered the biggest hack in crypto history.
According to U.S. blockchain analysis firms TRM Labs and Chainalysis, hackers linked to North Korea executed the attack by targeting Binance wallets on ten blockchains and moving the majority of funds within approximately 20 minutes.
Binance cooperated with partners to freeze affected assets, successfully securing about $3 billion so far.
The exchange’s co-founder Yi He stated that Binance would cover all hacking losses and confirmed that customer deposits remain unaffected.
Hacking incident
The exchange expects to resume withdrawal services within 48 hours.
TRM Labs noted that this incident shares similarities with previous hacks attributed to North Korea, including an incident involving Bybit reported by the FBI.
North Korea’s mission in Geneva and its embassy in China did not respond to requests for comment.
Aravind Srinivasan of GSR described the incident as unprecedented in scale.
Markets reacted swiftly, with Bitcoin and ether experiencing declines of over 3%.
BNB, Binance’s native token, fell 5% in the past 24 hours.
Shares of Coinbase Global dropped 4.8%, while those of MicroStrategy fell nearly 6% in after-hours trading.
The breach was reportedly initiated by a hacked laptop of a Binance engineer, allowing unauthorized withdrawals.
Binance confirmed its security team is investigating the full attack path.
Experts believe the hack could affect investor confidence in centralized exchanges amid rising interest rates.
Analysts warned it may provoke reassessment of risk associated with digital asset holdings.
Binance has a secure asset fund for user protection against security breaches.
Tether reported freezing nearly $1.57 billion linked to the incident.
Circle also froze over $800 million, and Ripple froze approximately $200 million.
The hacking incident raises concerns over security in the cryptocurrency industry.
Binance.US confirmed it was not affected, nor was Coinbase.
In another incident, Polymarket temporarily halted trading after a security incident with a third-party provider.
