Binance announced Thursday that approximately $6.3 billion in digital assets were affected by a security breach at the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange. The company stated that roughly half of the compromised assets have been frozen, though a significant portion remains in the possession of the attackers. Binance pledged to cover all losses resulting from the incident.
Initial investigation by Binance identified a compromised engineer’s laptop as the entry point, which allegedly granted an attacker access to a service container used for submitting unauthorized withdrawal transactions. However, the company’s subsequent inquiry revealed multiple breach points in its systems. Co-CEO Richard Teng characterized the attack as a complex process rather than a simple unauthorized action and stated that no evidence of wallet private key leaks has been found so far. The company indicated a detailed post-mortem analysis would be released once the investigation concludes.
Analytics firms Check Point, TRM Labs, and Chainalysis have attributed the hack to TraderTraitor, a North Korean hacking unit also known as Lazarus Group. The incident surpasses a $1.5 billion hack on Bybit exchange in 2025, making it the largest cryptocurrency theft documented. Industry experts have noted similarities between the Binance attack and previous North Korean-linked incidents, suggesting evolved tactics that no longer depend solely on obtaining vault access credentials.
In response to the breach, major cryptocurrency platforms including Tether and Circle froze approximately $2.4 billion in assets. Binance temporarily disabled withdrawals pending confirmation that its systems are secure. Bitcoin declined more than 4 percent following the disclosure, with other major cryptocurrencies also experiencing sharp declines. Binance stated it is collaborating with law enforcement to identify the perpetrators, though the company did not directly address questions regarding North Korean involvement.
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