Binance, the largest cryptocurrency exchange in the world, was the target of a cyberattack. Over $6 billion in crypto was stolen, which would make it the largest theft of its kind. The platform temporarily stopped deposits and withdrawals.
Blockchain intelligence firm TRM Labs estimates that roughly $6.36 billion was stolen from Binance wallets spread across ten blockchains. Most of the funds were moved within about 20 minutes. TRM attributes the attack to TraderTraitor, a North Korean hacking unit, and says it has high confidence in that finding.
Binance says it worked with blockchain partners to freeze roughly $3 billion in affected assets and that it will cover all losses. Deposits are working normally again, though withdrawals are still suspended. On Friday, the exchange said it expected to restore withdrawals within the next day or two.
The initial investigation traced the incident to a compromised laptop owned by a DevOps engineer. Binance said this gave an attacker access to a service container, which was used to submit unauthorized withdrawals. The company said it has found no evidence that wallet private keys were leaked.
The company later said investigators had found additional points of breach and described the incident as a complex attack, which means the compromised laptop is probably only part of the picture. Binance said it will release more technical details after its investigation is complete and the findings are verified.
According to Elliptic, the attacker seeded a wallet with small Tornado Cash withdrawals, ran a dry run of the operation, and then broadcast a set of pre-signed transactions in one burst. That sequence points to careful preparation rather than opportunistic access.
This is more than four times the $1.5 billion stolen in the Bybit hack of February 2025, the previous record. That attack hit a cold wallet during a transfer. Customers rushed to withdraw, and the exchange said it could cover its losses.
Binance has faced a hack before, though on a much smaller scale. In May 2019, attackers stole 7,000 bitcoins, worth around $40.7 million, from its hot wallet. They also obtained user API keys and two-factor authentication codes. Binance covered the loss with its emergency fund.
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