Binance Hack: $6.3 Billion Stolen in Biggest Crypto Heist on Record

Binance, the world's largest digital currency exchange, put the damage from Thursday's hack at roughly $6.3 billion — by far the biggest security incident in crypto's history. The company said a compromised developer laptop likely opened the door, and it promised more details on Friday.

Binance posted on X late Thursday evening Eastern Time that the attack probably began with an employee or contractor's machine. "The initial investigation suggests that the security incident may involve a compromised DevOps engineer's laptop, which allowed an attacker to gain access to a service container and submit unauthorized withdrawal transactions," the company wrote.

How did the hack unfold?

Reports surfaced on X early Thursday afternoon. Crypto observers, reading public blockchain data, flagged large amounts of currency moving out of Binance-linked wallets. Company founder Changpeng Zhao confirmed the hack soon after.

The scope is still fluid. Reports on X have put the haul anywhere between $2 billion and $8 billion. Binance's own estimate sits at about $6.3 billion, and it could take days to pin down the final number.

What did the hacker take?

Early reports sketch a mixed haul across the major currencies:

• Roughly $1.5 billion in Bitcoin
• Around the same amount in the stablecoin Tether
• Slightly under $1 billion in Ethereum and the USDC stablecoin
• Various other currencies, most likely

Who is behind it?

No one has claimed responsibility, and Binance hasn't named a culprit. But the security firm TRM and others have said North Korea is almost certainly behind the attack. The theory fits a pattern: North Korea's military has long used crypto hacking to fund its operations, and the sophistication here — including efforts to move the funds after stealing them — matches its known tactics. There's still no definitive proof.

Are the funds gone for good?

Tether and Circle, the firms behind USDT and USDC, moved quickly after the news broke. Both said they would freeze any stablecoins tied to the hack. That may only be partially effective. Evidence suggests the hacker immediately moved the stolen funds to the crypto lending platform Aave and posted them as collateral for a loan in Ethereum. That positions the hacker to walk away with the borrowed Ethereum even if the original stablecoins get frozen.

How did markets react?

Prices of all major cryptocurrencies fell on the news, but not dramatically. Bitcoin and Ethereum were down around 3% as of early Friday — a drop that coincided with a broader sell-off in financial markets. The muted reaction suggests the market believes Binance has deep enough pockets to absorb the loss and keep its customers whole.

What has the response been?

The CEOs of Coinbase, Tether and other major crypto companies pledged to support Binance within hours of the hack. Zhao acknowledged the industry's solidarity: "many industry friends and even competitors (including some previously-not-so-friendly ones) provided very much needed help." He also thanked Yi He, Binance's current CEO, for pulling an all-nighter while pregnant.

Not everyone was charitable. Some on X voiced disbelief that Binance's security could let a hacker steal billions through a single company laptop. Elon Musk took an AI-flavored angle: "Super intelligence agents will at some point do this to gain currency for themselves, not a human."

Binance says fuller details are coming Friday. The bigger question for the industry is whether rivals' freezing power and Binance's balance sheet can actually contain a $6.3 billion hole — or whether the Aave collateral play has already put a large slice of it beyond recovery.