Hackers steal $6.3 billion from Binance in record heist blamed on North Korea

Hackers stole $6.3 billion from Binance, the world's biggest cryptocurrency exchange, in a record theft that analysts pinned on North Korea and said could shake faith in digital assets.

Cryptocurrency prices fell on ​the news, while Binance halted withdrawals and said it would cover the losses. About half the stolen assets were quickly frozen by stablecoin issuers such as Tether, Circle and the Trump-backed World ‌Liberty Financial.

"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 on X.

The exchange said customer funds were safe and that it was working with partners to freeze some of the affected assets, with about $3 billion located so far. It expects to resume withdrawal services in the next 45 hours. It did not mention the status of the remaining $3.3 billion.

Binance runs a secure asset fund for users, a $1 billion bitcoin reserve designed to protect customer assets ​in the event of security breaches, according to its website.

Co-CEO Teng said that "and company funds" would cover losses.

The bulk of the heist unfolded in around 20 minutes beginning late on Thursday and bore similarities ​to previous large attacks blamed on North Korea, according to US blockchain analysis firms TRM Labs and Chainalysis.

TRM said the attackers were able to order wallets that Binance uses to ⁠empty into hacker-controlled wallets, mirroring a 2025 heist at crypto exchange Bybit, which the US Federal Bureau of Investigation attributed to North Korea.

"TRM attributes the attack to ... North Korea’s elite hacking unit," the firm said in an analysis ​of the hack posted to its website. Both TRM and Chainalysis said they were highly confident North Korea was responsible.