Binance Suffers $6 Billion Theft, Largest in Crypto History

Hackers stole more than $6 billion in cryptocurrency from Binance on Thursday, setting a new record for the largest heist in digital currency history.

The attack targeted digital wallets held by the world's largest crypto exchange. Binance stated that its initial review found the breach originated from a hacked engineer's laptop. This access allowed an attacker to reach a service container and submit unauthorized withdrawal transactions.

In response, the exchange announced it would cover all losses using company funds and an emergency assets fund. Binance assured users that their funds remained safe. The platform temporarily suspended deposits and withdrawals while security checks were completed. It also revoked the affected address authorization and engaged law enforcement and blockchain intelligence partners to trace the money.

By Thursday night, a team of cryptocurrency firms had frozen approximately $3 billion of the stolen loot. This represented about half of the total amount taken during the frenetic battle to control the digital assets.

Multiple firms attributed the theft to North Korea. TRM Labs, a crypto-tracing firm, pointed to an elite North Korean hacking unit based on on and off-chain intelligence. Pangolin Intelligence, a Singapore-based tracking firm, reached the same conclusion. An analyst at Pangolin Intelligence noted that correlating on-chain activity with previous known incidents led to the attribution. The analyst told CNN that the cat and mouse game had barely begun and that North Korea was likely to use a network of money laundering organizations to cash out the funds.

Chainalysis, another crypto-tracking company, reported high confidence that North Korea was behind the hack. A Chainalysis spokesperson said the firm was monitoring stolen funds moving across multiple blockchains, including Bitcoin and Ethereum.

Aravind Srinivasan, head of large crypto market maker GSR's systematic OTC business, called the incident the biggest hack in history. Analysts expressed shock at the sheer volume of money impacted.

US law enforcement agencies are investigating the breach. The FBI and the US Secret Service, which also investigates cybercrime, have been requested for comment. In past major crypto-hacks, the FBI has deployed on-call teams of analysts to help freeze stolen money. CNN has also reached out to North Korea's mission at the UN, which has previously denied similar allegations.

North Korean hacking teams serve as a key revenue source for the nuclear-armed regime. Officials from the United States and South Korea have noted that Pyongyang-linked hackers have stolen billions of dollars from banks and crypto firms in recent years. The previous record was set when North Korean hackers allegedly stole $1.5 billion from Bybit. That amount represented a significant portion of North Korea's reported annual gross domestic product.