World’s largest cryptocurrency exchange suspends withdrawals and pledges to cover losses after suspected largest hack in industry history.
Binance, the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange, has reported that approximately $6.3 billion worth of digital assets were affected in a major security breach, an incident that analysts describe as potentially the largest crypto heist on record.
The exchange said on Thursday that an initial investigation indicated the breach may have begun with a compromised laptop belonging to a DevOps engineer. This allowed an attacker to gain access to an internal service container and submit unauthorised withdrawal transactions. Binance stated there was no evidence of any wallet private key leak.
“User funds remain safe,” the company said in a statement. “As a precaution, all deposits and withdrawals are temporarily suspended while our security teams conduct checks, secure wallet infrastructure, and trace affected assets, with the close support of our law enforcement and industry partners.”
Binance Pledges Full Compensation After Record $3 Billion Crypto Theft:
Binance co-CEO Richard Teng and co-founder Yi He confirmed that the exchange would cover all losses using its Secure Asset Fund for Users (SAFU) and company funds. Approximately $3 billion of the affected assets have so far been frozen on-chain through coordination with blockchain partners, including stablecoin issuers Tether and Circle.
Blockchain intelligence firms have attributed the attack with high confidence to a North Korean state-linked hacking unit known as TraderTraitor, which investigators associate with the Lazarus Group. The incident significantly exceeds the previous record crypto theft of $1.5 billion from the Bybit exchange in 2025, also linked to North Korean actors.
TRM Labs described the breach as a “watershed moment” for the industry, noting that the attacker still holds a substantial portion of the stolen assets and that recovery efforts remain ongoing. The funds were moved across multiple blockchains, including Ethereum, Bitcoin, Tron and others, within a short timeframe.
Crypto Markets Fall After Binance Hack:
Crypto markets reacted with declines in major digital assets following the news. Analysts have suggested the scale of the incident could prompt investors to reassess risks associated with holding funds on centralised exchanges.
Binance has more than 300 million registered users and holds substantial assets under custody. The company said it would release a detailed technical post-mortem once the investigation is complete and publish an updated proof of reserves after remediation.
The breach highlights ongoing cybersecurity challenges in the cryptocurrency sector, where sophisticated attacks by state-linked groups have repeatedly targeted major platforms. Investigations involving law enforcement and industry partners continue as efforts focus on tracing and recovering the remaining funds.