Binance says about $6.3bn stolen in record crypto heist; $3bn frozen

Binance, the world's largest cryptocurrency exchange, says about $6.3 billion was stolen in a security breach it has described as the biggest crypto heist in history. The company said it would cover all losses from its own funds and told customers their money is safe.

The exchange said its first checks traced the breach to an engineer's compromised laptop. From there, the attacker is said to have reached a service container and pushed through unauthorised withdrawal transactions. Binance has suspended deposits and withdrawals while it carries out security checks, revoked the authorisation tied to the affected address, and brought in law enforcement and blockchain intelligence firms to trace the funds.

By Thursday night in the United States, a coalition of crypto firms had frozen roughly $3 billion of the stolen assets, according to the reports. Binance said its teams were "working around the clock" and that it would publish a detailed technical post-mortem once investigations are complete. Founder and largest shareholder Changpeng Zhao had said earlier that the exchange appeared to have been hacked.

Why it matters beyond crypto

Several blockchain intelligence firms have pointed to North Korea. TRM Labs said it assessed with "high confidence" that the attack was carried out by TraderTraitor, a North Korean unit investigators link to the Lazarus Group. Chainalysis said it also had high confidence in the North Korean link, while Singapore-based Pangolin Intelligence called North Korea the likely source. The investigations are still ongoing, and Binance has not named a culprit.

Researchers say stolen crypto is often moved through laundering networks, which makes recovery harder the longer the funds stay on the move. Ari Redbord, TRM's global head of policy, called the attack "unprecedented" and said that when North Korea steals at this scale, the money funds weapons proliferation. A US State Department spokesman, quoted by Leadership, described North Korean cybercrime as a global security concern.

The theft has rattled the market. Bitcoin fell about 5 percent and dropped below $77,000, according to ThisDay. Sean Foley of Macquarie University said a blow to confidence in a large centralised exchange can shake retail investors and weigh on crypto prices.

For Nigerians who trade crypto, the practical effect is likely to show up first in prices and in how easily funds can be moved on and off big exchanges. Binance has about $155 billion in assets under management, more than any other exchange, according to CoinMarketCap.

What happens next

Binance says deposits and withdrawals will stay paused until its checks are done. Investigators will keep tracking the stolen coins across networks including Bitcoin and Ethereum, and the exchange has promised a full technical account of what went wrong. The frozen $3 billion may yet be returned, but the rest depends on how fast the hackers and their launderers move.