Ankur Banerjee, Tom Westbrook and Summer Zhen
Hackers stole $6.3 billion ($8.9 billion) from Binance, the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange, in what analysts say is the biggest crypto hack ever, an attack that could prompt investors to rethink the risks of owning digital assets.
The hackers behind the raid were from North Korea, according to US blockchain analysis firms TRM Labs and Chainalysis. The attackers targeted Binance wallets on 10 blockchains and shifted most of the funds in about 20 minutes, TRM Labs said in a statement.
Binance said it had worked with partners to freeze the affected assets, with about $US3 billion located so far. It gave no update on the status of the remaining $US3.3 billion as Binance co-founder Yi He said the company would cover “all hacking losses”.
An initial investigation suggested the breach may have started with a hacked laptop belonging to one of its engineers, which let an attacker gain access to one of its systems and make unauthorised withdrawals, Binance said.
Markets reacted immediately on Friday. Bitcoin dropped more than 3 per cent to a six-week low of $US76,368 and ether fell more than 3 per cent to a two-month low of $US2,178.
TRM said several features of the attack matched earlier heists linked to North Korea, including a 2025 hack of crypto exchange Bybit that the US Federal Bureau of Investigation had attributed to Pyongyang.
“We make this judgment with high confidence,” it said in a statement.
The incident could be the world’s biggest crypto heist, according to analytics firm Chainalysis and other industry experts.
“It’s the biggest hack in history,” said Aravind Srinivasan, head of large crypto market maker GSR’s systematic OTC business.
Beyond the potential loss of assets, the security breach was likely to have wider ramifications for crypto, which had already been under pressure lately due to higher US interest rates and softer demand from exchange-traded fund buyers, analysts said.
“It may further dampen risk appetite and prompt investors to reassess the safety of assets held on centralised exchanges, as well as counterparty, solvency and liquidity risks,” said Tim Sun, senior researcher at HashKey Group, based in Hong Kong.
Binance, which allows users to buy, sell and trade digital assets, has 335 million registered users globally and had about $US162.8 billion in assets under custody as of the exchange’s 2025 annual report.
“User funds remain safe,” Binance said in a statement. “As a precaution, all deposits and withdrawals are temporarily suspended while our security teams conduct checks, secure wallet infrastructure, and trace affected assets, with the close support of our law enforcement and industry partners.”
Binance runs a secure asset fund for users, which is a reserve held entirely in bitcoin that is intended to protect user assets in cases of security breaches, according to its website.
“It’s becoming very hard to counter hacks as AI can find vulnerabilities faster than you can fix them,” said Bernardo Brites, chief executive of Trace Finance, a payments and stablecoin
infrastructure company.
“My view is that users will move away from smaller and medium-sized exchanges, (it is) becoming too risky to park your money somewhere that couldn’t cover a hack of meaningful size.”
Stablecoin issuer Tether said it had frozen nearly $US1.57 billion in assets linked to the incident, while Circle froze more than $US800 million.
World Liberty Financial, a crypto company linked to US President Donald Trump and his family, said on Thursday it had worked with cryptocurrency custodian BitGo to freeze funds
stolen in what it described as a Binance hack.
Miguel Morel, chief executive of blockchain intelligence firm Arkham, said data indicated that billions of dollars appeared to have been hacked from Binance by an unknown actor.
The incident adds to a string of crypto thefts. Last year, attackers stole $US2.9 billion worth of cryptocurrency across nearly 150 attacks, according to researchers at TRM Labs.
In September, cryptocurrency exchange Bitget said roughly $US350 million in crypto had been stolen from its platform, underscoring the industry’s vulnerability to hackers.
Authorities have warned that organised crime groups are increasingly using cryptocurrencies to move funds across borders outside the traditional financial system.
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