- Published
Binance, the world's largest cryptocurrency exchange, says it has frozen around half of the funds stolen in a "complex" hack, after $6.3bn (£4.7bn) was accessed in what is believed to be a record heist.
asserted
what → say → hack
The firm said $3bn of its stolen digital assets had been secured - but many were still in the hands of unidentified hackers.
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many → say → hackers
It initially thought an engineer's laptop had been compromised, allowing unauthorised withdrawals, but later said the attack was wider.
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attack → think → withdrawals
Several analytics firms have linked the hack, which eclipses a $1.5bn (£1.12bn) heist on the Bybit exchange in 2025, to a North Korean hacking unit.
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which → link → unit
The US Secret Service said it was "working around the clock" "to identify, freeze, trace, and recover" stolen funds.
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it → say → funds
America's lead federal agency for investigating financial crimes added that it would "identify the cyber criminals responsible and bring them to justice", while Binance also said it was working with the FBI.
The company also told its users "your money is safe, and we're covering every loss".
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we → investigate → loss
Binance had initially suspended all deposits and withdrawals - but then said in an update that "deposits remain unaffected".
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deposits → suspend → update
Binance's co-CEO Richard Teng said: "This was not carried out by one person.
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This → say → person
Our initial investigation suggested that the security incident may have involved a compromised laptop, however our subsequent investigation has uncovered additional points of breach."
uncertain
investigation → suggest → breach
Teng also describes how the hackers used "a self-destruct mechanism that destroyed tooling and traces as they went, making it more difficult for us to trace and investigate".
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us → describe → tooling
Initially, the company had indicated the breach "may have started with a compromised DevOps engineer's laptop" but later statements have pointed to a broader breach.
uncertain
statements → indicate → breach
Binance, which was founded in China in 2017, allows users to trade digital assets and is estimated to have more than 300 million registered users worldwide.
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users → found → users
The company said in 2024 that it had more than $160bn in assets under its custody.
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it → say → custody
A lot of the fear right now from Binance users - and the crypto industry at large - is whether or not Binance will actually be capable of covering this enormous financial loss.
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Binance → cover → loss
The company has said repeatedly that customer funds will be covered and that the firm is strong enough to weather the storm.
But crypto history watchers have been pointing out online that this is exactly the kind of message that FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried gave before his crypto exchange collapsed in 2022, leading to huge losses for customers and the industry.
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exchange → say → customers
Meanwhile, AI-powered investigations company TRM Labs said that several elements of the attack resembled earlier North Korean-linked incidents, including the Bybit hack.
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elements → power → hack
In the last five years the crypto industry has been beset by enormous losses from hackers.
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industry → beset → hackers
In nearly all cases investigators have blamed hackers from North Korea, pointing to the infamous Lazarus Group - also know as TraderTraitor.
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investigators → blame → TraderTraitor
The names refer to clusters of cyber criminals accused of working directly for the regime.
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names → refer → regime
Chainalysis, a crypto analytics firm, said it had "high confidence" that a North Korean is linked to the hack.
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Korean → say → hack
North Korea is an impoverished country with very little industry and heavy international sanctions and experts say the regime uses cyber crime as a way to bring money in.
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regime → say → money
North Korea has always denied this, but the wealth of evidence from cryptocurrency flow analysis and insider interviews from defectors is compelling.
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wealth → deny → defectors
It makes North Korea likely to be the only nation that uses hacking as a way to raise public funds.
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that → make → funds
The Aporia
