Binance Hack: $6.3 Billion Gone in 20 Minutes, $3 Billion Frozen

An attacker moved approximately $6.36 billion out of Binance wallets across ten blockchains on October 29, most of it in about 20 minutes, according to blockchain analysis firm TRM. That would make it the largest cryptocurrency theft on record.

Binance, the world's largest cryptocurrency exchange, halted withdrawals and said it would cover all losses. Deposits were unaffected. The exchange worked with blockchain partners to freeze roughly $3 billion in affected assets and said Friday it was beginning to recover assets for users.

TRM attributed the attack with high confidence to TraderTraitor, which it described as North Korea's elite hacking unit. Chainalysis CEO Jony Levin said his firm assessed the hack was likely carried out by North Korea, citing links to previous hacks. Binance said it is working with the FBI and the U.S. Secret Service, according to a person familiar with the situation.

Binance said an initial investigation suggested a compromised laptop, but a subsequent investigation uncovered additional "points of breach."

Stablecoin issuers including Tether and World Liberty Financial froze about half of the stolen assets. That coordination — across exchanges, stablecoin issuers, and law enforcement — is the industry's freeze-and-recover playbook in action. It worked for roughly $3 billion.

Markets reacted sharply. Bitcoin fell below $77,000 late Thursday. BNB lost 7.1%, Ethereum slid 5.2%, and XRP fell 7%. Liquidations totaled $1.55 billion over 24 hours, with 246,482 traders liquidated, according to CoinGlass data.

Binance's reference to additional "points of breach" suggests the initial access vector was not the only one.