North Korean Hackers Drain $6.3 Billion from Binance in Biggest Theft in History
Binance has halted all withdrawals after suffering what analysts are calling the largest theft of any kind ever recorded. The world's biggest cryptocurrency exchange lost an estimated $6.3 billion to hackers, with around $3 billion in stablecoins frozen shortly after the breach was discovered. The other $3.3 billion, however, had already been converted into assets that can't be frozen, and whoever did this is apparently busy cashing out.
Blockchain intelligence firm TRM Labs has attributed the attack to TraderTraitor, a hacking unit linked to North Korea. If confirmed, it dwarfs last year's $1.5 billion Bybit heist, which was also pinned on Pyongyang. North Korean hackers stole roughly $2 billion in crypto during 2025 alone, a 50 percent jump on the year before. Peter Ward of Seoul's Sejong Institute noted bluntly that North Korea offers its hackers "near-total protection" and warned that things could get considerably worse.
Binance says its initial investigation pointed to a compromised engineer's laptop as the entry point, though a follow-up on Friday revealed additional breach vectors. The company is working with law enforcement, which in crypto heists of this scale tends to mean crossing your fingers and hoping the blockchain leaves enough breadcrumbs.
On the financial side, Binance claims it has already set aside over $6.34 billion to cover losses, with $5 billion held in the exact tokens affected. The gap that remains is being filled by buying more tokens on the open market, a process complicated by thin liquidity in some assets. Co-founder Changpeng Zhao, known as CZ, acknowledged around $2 billion still needs covering but called the shortfall "manageable," pointing to Binance's stake in SpaceX, reportedly worth over $1 billion, as part of the cushion.
Co-CEO Richard Teng told customers their money is safe and that losses would be fully covered. Co-CEO Yi He added that annual revenue, which CZ has previously put at around $5 billion, is sufficient to absorb the damage. Withdrawals are expected to resume within 48 hours, according to He.
Stablecoin issuers moved quickly. Tether froze approximately $1.5 billion of USDT, and Circle locked $800 million in USDC. Elliptic verified around $2.8 billion of frozen crypto in total, mostly those two tokens, but confirmed the hackers had successfully moved the rest into ETH and other non-freezable assets before anyone could react.
Bitcoin dropped around 4 percent on the news before stabilising above $78,000. The broader market is already beaten up after a sell-off late last year erased over $1 trillion from the combined value of digital tokens, so this is not a helpful development.
The hack lands at an awkward moment for Binance institutionally. The company pleaded guilty to US anti-money laundering violations in 2023 and paid a $4.3 billion fine. CZ himself pleaded guilty to related criminal charges, stepped down as CEO, and was later pardoned by Donald Trump. Abu Dhabi's Financial Services Regulatory Authority, which oversees Binance's main global exchange, said Friday it was aware of the breach and engaging closely with the company.
Binance was pushed out of the EU in July after failing to obtain a licence under the bloc's crypto regulations, and has been blocked from UK retail customers since 2021. It operates in the US through a separate entity registered in 32 states.
For context on the broader pattern: $280 million was stolen from Drift in April, and nearly $390 million was taken from Bitget last month. Crypto exchanges are essentially banks that advertise their vault size and employ engineers with laptops. What could go wrong.