By Kehinde Victor
KEY POINTS
- Binance has been hit by a suspected cryptocurrency hack involving $6.3 billion in assets.
- The exchange says about $3 billion has been frozen with the help of stablecoin issuers.
- Customer deposits and withdrawals were temporarily suspended, with withdrawals expected to resume by Sunday.
- Bitcoin, Ethereum and major crypto-related stocks fell following news of the attack.
MAIN STORY
Binance, the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange, has been hit by a suspected $6.3 billion cyberattack, in what could become the largest cryptocurrency theft on record.
The attack, which occurred late Thursday, prompted the exchange to temporarily suspend customer deposits and withdrawals as it investigated the breach and worked with cryptocurrency issuers to freeze stolen assets.
Binance said approximately $3 billion in assets had been frozen on-chain with assistance from stablecoin issuers, including Tether and Circle. The frozen funds represent roughly half of the assets affected by the attack.
The exchange’s co-CEO, Richard Teng, said Binance would cover all losses using company funds, assuring customers that their assets were safe.
Initial findings suggested that the incident may have started with a compromised engineer’s laptop. However, further investigation indicated wider security breaches involving the exchange’s wallet-signing infrastructure.
Binance said it had found no evidence that wallet passwords were leaked.
THE ISSUES
The attack raises concerns about the security of cryptocurrency exchanges, particularly the systems used to authorise transactions and protect customers’ funds.
Blockchain analysis firms TRM Labs and Elliptic linked the attack to North Korean hackers. TRM attributed it with high confidence to a group known as TraderTraitor, which was also linked to the February 2025 Bybit hack.
The previous record for cryptocurrency theft was set in that attack, when hackers stole $1.5 billion from the crypto derivatives exchange.
Elliptic estimated that about 44% of the assets stolen from Binance had been frozen, with stablecoins accounting for nearly all the recovered funds. It said the attackers still controlled more than $3 billion in cryptocurrency that token issuers could not directly freeze.
The intervention of stablecoin issuers was central to the recovery effort. Tether froze more than $1.567 billion in USDT associated with the attack, while Circle froze another $800 million in coordination with law enforcement.
World Liberty Financial also said it had frozen $27 million in its USD1 stablecoin linked to the incident.
WHAT’S BEING SAID
“We are committed to covering all hacked losses through our company funds. Your assets are safe.” – Richard Teng, Co-CEO, Binance.
“This was a complex attack. The attacker also used a self-destruct mechanism that destroyed tooling and tracers.” – Richard Teng, Co-CEO, Binance.
WHAT’S NEXT
Binance said customer withdrawals were expected to resume by Sunday, according to co-CEO Yi He.
The exchange will also need to complete its investigation into how attackers compromised its wallet-signing infrastructure and determine the full extent of the breach.
The incident has already affected cryptocurrency prices and shares of companies exposed to the digital-asset market.
Bitcoin fell about 5% to around $76,600 early Friday, while Ethereum declined 4% to approximately $2,200. Binance’s BNB token also lost more than 5%.
Shares of Circle, Coinbase, Robinhood and Strategy fell between 8% and 14% during Friday trading.
BOTTOM LINE
The suspected $6.3 billion Binance hack has exposed the financial and security risks facing cryptocurrency exchanges. Although billions of dollars in assets have been frozen, more than $3 billion may remain under the attackers’ control, leaving the exchange’s recovery efforts and investigation critical to restoring confidence.
Source: Yahoo Finance
