An unprecedented attack has hit Binance, the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange, affecting digital assets worth $6.3 billion. The incident is being described as the largest theft recorded in the history of cryptocurrency to date.
Binance said that around 50 percent of the affected assets have been frozen, while the rest are believed to remain under the attackers’ control. The company promised to cover all losses and said it is working with authorities to determine who was responsible for the attack.
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Initial investigations suggest the attack may have begun after a Binance engineer’s laptop was compromised. The perpetrators are believed to have used the device to gain access to an internal company system and carry out unauthorized withdrawals.
TRM Labs and Chainalysis, two companies specializing in tracking and analyzing cryptocurrency transactions, have linked the attack to the TraderTraitor group, which is believed to operate on behalf of North Korea. Check Point says the group is also known as Lazarus Group and has previously been involved in major attacks against the cryptocurrency industry.
Jayant Dave, a senior information security official at Check Point, said the financial scale makes this the largest attack of its kind recorded to date. Ari Redbord, head of global policy at TRM Labs, described the incident as a turning point for the sector, noting that a large portion of the stolen assets has yet to be brought under the control of authorities.
North Korea has for years been accused by Western governments and cybersecurity companies of using hacker units to steal cryptocurrency. Security agencies in the United States and South Korea have said the proceeds from these attacks could be used to fund North Korea’s nuclear programs and missile development.
Binance said it is working closely with law enforcement partners to identify the perpetrators and bring them to justice.
The company’s co-CEO, Richard Teng, said initial analyses link the start of the attack to an engineer’s compromised computer. According to him, the hackers gained access to a service system and used it to send illicit transactions and withdraw the assets. Teng emphasized that this was a more complex operation than simply using an employee’s credentials, and that no evidence has so far been found that the private keys to digital wallets were exposed.
Binance has temporarily suspended withdrawals while it verifies that its systems are fully secure. The company said it will publish a detailed report on the incident after the investigation is complete.
Tether and Circle announced that together they have frozen around $2.4 billion in assets suspected of being linked to the attack. World Liberty Financial, a company associated with U.S. President Donald Trump and his family, also said it had worked with other partners to block the stolen funds.
Reports of the attack had an immediate impact on the cryptocurrency market. Bitcoin fell by more than 4 percent, while Ethereum and Solana also recorded significant losses. Investors voiced renewed concerns about the security of assets held on centralized platforms. Coinbase said its services were unaffected and that it is closely monitoring developments.
Binance.US, the company’s smaller platform serving users specifically in the United States, confirmed it was not affected by the incident. Binance was founded in China in 2017 and has more than 300 million registered users worldwide. According to company data, it manages more than $160 billion in customer assets. The latest attack surpasses the $1.5 billion heist targeting the Bybit platform in 2025, reviving debate about security vulnerabilities in the global cryptocurrency industry.
