Cryptocurrency exchange Binance announced on Thursday that a massive cyber attack has impacted approximately $6.3 billion (£4.7 billion) in digital assets, in what could be the largest hack in history. The platform stated that roughly half of the affected funds have already been frozen with assistance from other crypto platforms, and it committed to covering all losses incurred by the incident.
Preliminary internal reviews suggest the breach occurred after an engineer’s laptop was compromised, enabling an intruder to execute unauthorised asset withdrawals. The security incident specifically affected Binance.com, while the separate platform Binance.US confirmed its systems were not impacted.
North Korean Hackers Suspected
Two separate blockchain analytics organisations have connected the breach to TraderTraitor, a hacking unit associated with North Korea. Cyber investigation firm TRM Labs noted that the methodology closely aligns with previous attacks linked to North Korea, including a $1.5 billion breach on the Bybit exchange in 2025. Analytics firm Chainalysis also expressed high confidence in the group’s involvement, prompting calls for heightened security across all trading platforms.
While Binance did not directly comment on potential links to North Korea, the company stated that it is cooperating with law enforcement agencies to identify those responsible. In response to the breach, cryptocurrency issuers Tether and Circle confirmed freezing roughly $2.4 billion in combined assets linked to the incident. Withdrawals on Binance remain temporarily paused while safety checks continue.
Source: BBC News
