Key Takeaways
- • Binance, the world's largest cryptocurrency exchange, suffered a record $6.3bn (£4.7bn) hack, described by Elliptic's chief scientist Tom Robinson as almost certainly the largest theft of any kind in history.
- • Binance has set aside $6.34bn to cover stolen assets and said it would cover all customer losses, while freezing $3bn of the affected assets.
- • TRM, Elliptic and Chainalysis attribute the attack with "high confidence" to TraderTraitor, North Korea's elite state-backed hacking unit.
- • The breach reportedly began with a hacked laptop belonging to a Binance engineer, though Binance later said there were "additional points of breach" in a sophisticated attack.
- • Bitcoin fell 5% to $77,380 within hours of the news, its lowest level in six weeks, amid analyst concern about confidence in centralised exchanges.
Summary
Binance, which has 335 million registered users and about $162.8bn in assets under custody as of its 2025 annual report, was hit by a record $6.3bn (£4.7bn) cryptocurrency hack late on Thursday, according to The Guardian. Experts identified North Korean state-backed hackers as the likely culprits. TRM, Elliptic and Chainalysis each blamed the attack with "high confidence" on TraderTraitor, the regime's elite hacking unit. Researchers said the theft dwarfs a $1.5bn crypto raid on a Dubai-based exchange last year, which the FBI attributed to North Korea, and the $1bn taken from Iraq's central bank in 2003.
Binance said an initial investigation suggested the breach began with a hacked laptop belonging to one of its engineers, allowing an attacker to access a system and make unauthorised withdrawals. The company later said there had been "additional points of breach" in a sophisticated attack. Co-chief executive Richard Teng said: "Bottom line – your money is safe, and we're covering every loss." All deposits and withdrawals were temporarily suspended while security teams work with law enforcement and industry partners, including the FBI and US Secret Service. Tether said it had frozen nearly $1.57bn in linked assets and Circle froze more than $800m. Elliptic said the largest losses involved Ethereum, with $3.8bn affected. World Liberty Financial, a crypto company linked to the Trump family, said it had worked with BitGo to freeze funds stolen in the hack.
Market reaction was immediate, with bitcoin falling 5% to $77,380 in early Asian trading on Friday. Analysts said the breach could further dampen risk appetite, with Tim Sun of HashKey Group noting it may prompt investors to reassess the safety of assets held on centralised exchanges. Crypto had already been under pressure from higher US interest rates and softer ETF demand. Elliptic estimates North Korea has stolen more than $6.5bn in crypto in recent years, including over $1bn so far in 2026. Founder Changpeng Zhao said on X that user funds were safe and that, as a shareholder, he expected all user funds to be fully covered.
UK regulators are monitoring the situation. An FCA spokesperson said Binance was not registered with the FCA to provide crypto services in the UK but that the regulator was engaging with the firm, and the Bank of England is reportedly monitoring exposures among UK banks, insurers and fintechs, with no active concerns understood. Coinbase said it was unaffected, and Binance.US said it was not affected by the incident.
Binance said an initial investigation suggested the breach began with a hacked laptop belonging to one of its engineers, allowing an attacker to access a system and make unauthorised withdrawals. The company later said there had been "additional points of breach" in a sophisticated attack. Co-chief executive Richard Teng said: "Bottom line – your money is safe, and we're covering every loss." All deposits and withdrawals were temporarily suspended while security teams work with law enforcement and industry partners, including the FBI and US Secret Service. Tether said it had frozen nearly $1.57bn in linked assets and Circle froze more than $800m. Elliptic said the largest losses involved Ethereum, with $3.8bn affected. World Liberty Financial, a crypto company linked to the Trump family, said it had worked with BitGo to freeze funds stolen in the hack.
Market reaction was immediate, with bitcoin falling 5% to $77,380 in early Asian trading on Friday. Analysts said the breach could further dampen risk appetite, with Tim Sun of HashKey Group noting it may prompt investors to reassess the safety of assets held on centralised exchanges. Crypto had already been under pressure from higher US interest rates and softer ETF demand. Elliptic estimates North Korea has stolen more than $6.5bn in crypto in recent years, including over $1bn so far in 2026. Founder Changpeng Zhao said on X that user funds were safe and that, as a shareholder, he expected all user funds to be fully covered.
UK regulators are monitoring the situation. An FCA spokesperson said Binance was not registered with the FCA to provide crypto services in the UK but that the regulator was engaging with the firm, and the Bank of England is reportedly monitoring exposures among UK banks, insurers and fintechs, with no active concerns understood. Coinbase said it was unaffected, and Binance.US said it was not affected by the incident.
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