Hackers took $6.3bn from Binance, the world's largest cryptocurrency exchange, in what multiple analysts call the largest theft in history. Binance co-chief executive Richard Teng said the company had set aside $6.34bn to cover all customer losses. TRM, Elliptic and Chainalysis attributed the attack to TraderTraitor, North Korea's elite hacking unit, with "high confidence." North Korea has stolen more than $6.5bn in crypto assets in recent years, according to Elliptic.
Binance said the breach may have started with a compromised laptop belonging to one of its engineers, which allowed unauthorised withdrawals. The company later disclosed "additional points of breach" in what it described as a sophisticated attack. Binance froze $3bn of affected assets and suspended all deposits and withdrawals while its security teams conducted checks. Tether froze $1.57bn in linked assets and Circle froze over $800m.
Bitcoin fell 5 percent to $77,380 within hours of the hack becoming public, its lowest level in six weeks. The attack dwarfs the previous record crypto heist of $1.5bn from a Dubai-based exchange last year, also attributed to North Korea by the FBI. Tom Robinson, chief scientist at Elliptic, said "This is almost certainly the largest theft of any kind in history."
The incident adds pressure to an industry already under stress from higher US interest rates and reduced demand from exchange-traded fund buyers. Tim Sun, a senior researcher at HashKey Group, said it "may further dampen risk appetite and prompt investors to reassess the safety of assets held on centralised exchanges."