Saturday, October 31, 2026 - Hackers have stolen $6.3 billion from Binance, the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange, in the biggest crypto heist in human history.
“This was a complex attack, and we are doing all we can in
coordination with law enforcement to resolve it,” Binance said in a post about
the breach, which has shaken the cryptocurrency market.
The cryptocurrency exchange said on Friday that
deposits were unaffected and that it was working with partners to freeze some
of the affected assets, with about $3 billion located so far.
Withdrawals have been suspended for the next day. Binance
did not mention the status of the remaining $3.3 billion, but said it will
cover all losses.
TRM Labs, a US-based blockchain intelligence firm, pinned
the attack on TraderTraitor, which it described as North Korea’s elite hacking
unit.
“We make this judgment with high confidence,” the firm said,
noting that “several features of this attack match earlier North Korea-linked
heists.”
“An attacker moved approximately USD 6.36 billion out of
Binance wallets on ten blockchains, most of it in about 20 minutes,” TRM said.
That would make the hack the largest cryptocurrency theft on
record — surpassing the massive $1.5 billion that was stolen when the Bybit
exchange was targeted last year, also pinned on North Korea.
One industry insider described the latest hack to Sky News
as “the largest bank heist in human history.”
It is also “the biggest hack in history,” Aravind Srinivasan
at market maker GSR said.
Blockchain analysis company Chainalysis also believes the
Binance hack was “likely done by DPRK group TraderTraitor,” its co-founder and
CEO Jonathan Levin wrote on X.
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