The world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange, Binance, has suffered a record-breaking $6.3 billion hack, an unprecedented security breach that experts suggest was likely orchestrated by North Korean state-backed actors. Binance, which serves over 335 million registered users and held approximately $162.8 billion in assets as of its 2025 report, has confirmed it will cover all losses for affected customers. With experts identifying North Korea as the likely culprit, the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange has been hit by a record $6.3bn (£4.7bn) hack described as the biggest heist in history. According to analysts, The exchange had been subjected to an unprecedented attack with “never-seen-before” laundering patterns as the hackers made off with assets worth billions of dollars. Binance, which allows users to buy, sell and trade digital assets, has 335 million registered users globally and had about $162.8bn in assets under custody as of the exchange’s 2025 annual report. Donald Trump pardoned him in 2025. Reuters and the Associated Press contributed to this report. Q&A: How big a deal is the $6.3bn crypto heist.
Initial reports indicate the breach began via a compromised laptop belonging to a Binance engineer, allowing unauthorized access to internal systems. The company subsequently identified additional points of entry during what investigators described as a highly sophisticated attack.
The incident resulted in the theft of assets that dwarfed previous records, including a $1.5 billion heist from a Dubai-based exchange last year and the $1 billion stolen from Iraq’s central bank in 2003.
Tom Robinson, chief scientist at the consultancy Elliptic, labeled the event as almost certainly the largest theft of any kind in history. Several major crypto research firms, including TRM, Elliptic, and Chainalysis, have attributed the attack with high confidence to TraderTraitor, an elite North Korean hacking unit. This regime has increasingly turned to crypto theft to bypass international sanctions, reportedly stealing over $6.5 billion in virtual assets in recent years. Including more than $1bn so far in 2026, according to Elliptic, the regime has stolen more than $6.5bn in crypto assets in recent years. North Korea, a state hampered by sanctions and starved for cash, has become a prolific hacker of crypto, an asset it favours because it can be stolen in bulk and laundered.
Co-CEO Richard Teng stated that Binance has set aside $6.34 billion to fully reimburse users. As of the latest update, the firm has successfully located and frozen roughly $3 billion of the stolen funds. Binance has temporarily suspended all deposits and withdrawals while teams work with global law enforcement agencies, including the FBI and the US Secret Service, to secure the infrastructure. Richard Teng, a co-chief executive of Binance, said: “Bottom line – your money is safe, and we’re covering every loss. Zhao posted to X on Thursday: “User funds are safe!” but added that the incident “does look like a hack”.
Stablecoin issuers took immediate action to assist in the recovery. Tether reported freezing approximately $1.57 billion in assets connected to the breach, while Circle secured over $800 million. Analysts note that Ethereum-based assets were hit the hardest, accounting for roughly $3.8 billion of the stolen total. Meanwhile, Binance.US, which operates as a separate entity, confirmed it was not affected by the incident. According to tether, an issuer of stablecoins, which trade at a value fixed to a conventional currency like the US dollar,, It had frozen nearly $1.57bn in assets linked to the incident, while Circle froze more than $800m.
Market volatility followed the news, with bitcoin prices dipping 5% to $77,380—a six-week low—shortly after the breach became public. Industry observers believe the event may negatively impact risk appetite and force a re-evaluation of security standards across centralized exchanges. Tim Sun of the HashKey Group suggested this breach creates broader challenges for the sector, which was already facing pressure from shifting US interest rates. And within hours bitcoin – the most popular crypto asset by far – had fallen 5% from its level before news of the hack broke, to $77,380, its lowest level in six weeks, markets reacted immediately in early Asian trading on Friday.
Regulators are closely monitoring the fallout. In the UK, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) is engaging with Binance to assess the impact on the domestic financial system, while the Bank of England is tracking the situation, though no immediate systemic risks have been reported. Coinbase, another major exchange, confirmed its own systems remain unaffected. Authorities have warned that organised crime groups are increasingly using cryptocurrencies to move funds across borders outside the traditional financial system. However, it is understood there are no active concerns.
This massive theft adds to an already troubling year for digital assets. Data from TRM shows that attackers stole $2.9 billion in crypto last year across nearly 150 separate incidents. In a separate event occurring on the same day, the prediction platform Polymarket temporarily halted operations following a minor security breach involving a third-party provider, though it later resumed trading after promising full compensation to users.
Binance’s founder, Changpeng Zhao, who stepped down after legal challenges in 2024, commented on X that he expects all customer funds to be covered. The exchange has expressed confidence in its ability to recover, stating, “We will weather this storm.” Now a Canadian and United Arab Emirates citizen, who was jailed for four months in 2024 after pleading guilty to money laundering violations, the company was founded by the Chinese-born entrepreneur Changpeng Zhao.
