Hackers steal $6.3 billion from Binance, rattling crypto markets

Hackers stole $6.3 billion from Binance on Friday, a theft that rattled the cryptocurrency market and sent Bitcoin and other digital tokens lower. The world's largest cryptocurrency exchange disclosed the breach on X, saying the incident appeared to stem from an engineer's laptop. The compromised device, the company said, "allowed an attacker to gain access to a service container and submit unauthorized withdrawal transactions."

Blockchain intelligence firm TRM Labs has linked the attack to TraderTraitor, which it described as North Korea's elite hacking unit. The firm called the theft the largest cryptocurrency heist on record, surpassing the $1.5 billion Bybit theft from last year. Binance has not publicly confirmed the attribution. Changpeng Zhao, Binance's founder, said the incident "does look like a hack."

In response, Binance temporarily suspended withdrawals and deposits and is working with blockchain partners to freeze affected assets. "Our teams are working around the clock to resolve this issue safely and thoroughly," the company said in its post. It added that it is working closely with law enforcement partners to confirm the identity of the criminals and bring them to justice. The exchange has framed the response as a priority of resolving the problem before any broader steps are taken.

Binance said it will cover all losses using its Secure Asset Fund for Users, known as SAFU. The fund holds about $1 billion in Bitcoin, but an expert told CNBC they had doubts about whether full reimbursement would be possible. The scale of the fund relative to the amount stolen is central to that question, since the $6.3 billion loss is several times larger than the fund's holdings.

The exchange's size makes the breach more consequential for the wider market. Binance reported $34 trillion in trading volume and more than 300 million users in 2025, when it held $162.8 billion in assets. Few platforms in the sector operate at comparable scale, so a security failure at Binance carries implications that extend well beyond its own customers.

The market reaction was swift. Bitcoin, the largest cryptocurrency, fell nearly 4 percent on Friday morning to $77,594, its lowest level in more than a month. Shares of Circle Internet Group, Robinhood Markets and Strategy Inc. each fell more than 6 percent in premarket trading. Strive, a Bitcoin treasury company, and Bitmine, an Ethereum treasury company, dropped more than 4 percent, reflecting how closely firms that hold these assets on their balance sheets track the price of the tokens themselves.

The episode also underscores the scale of recent state-linked thefts in the sector. TRM Labs' characterization of the Binance attack as a record places it above last year's Bybit incident, and the attribution to a North Korean unit points to a pattern of large-scale cryptocurrency theft that security analysts have tracked over several years.

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Hailey Griffin

Staff Reporter

Hailey Griffin covers public affairs, politics, business, culture and daily news for Cronkite. The role focuses on verification, context, and clear explanations for readers.

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