Binance halts trading after biggest-ever crypto hack
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Changpeng Zhao, co-founder of Binance, during the Bitcoin Asia conference in August. Photo: Chan Long Hei/Bloomberg via Getty Images
Binance halted trading Thursday after hackers allegedly linked to North Korea stole more than $6 billion, the largest crypto hack in history.
Why it matters: The attack comes after a wave of high-profile cyber intrusions and data breaches during "Black October," when a series of security incidents and AI-discovered bugs triggered fears of a global crisis.
Driving the news: Binance co-founder Yi He said on X that the crypto exchange had suspended deposits and withdrawals. "User funds are safe," she wrote. "Binance will cover all hacking losses."
- An estimated $6.3 billion were drained from wallets in the incident, Binance said, although the exchange and partners managed to freeze about $3 billion that can potentially be recovered.
- "This is unprecedented," said Kevin March, a co-founder of JPEG Trading, a cryptocurrency trading firm that closely tracked the hack to monitor market conditions.
- An initial investigation found linked the hack to a compromised laptop from one Binance engineer. That access allowed an attacker to gain access to Binance's systems to make withdrawals, the exchange said.
Zoom in: Researchers from TRM Labs and Pangolin Intelligence found that the attack appeared to be the work of a North Korean hacking collective.
- "This was absolutely North Korea," Nick Carlsen, a senior TRM investigator, told The Wall Street Journal.
- Representatives of North Korea have previously denied allegations of hacking crypto exchanges.
- The country has turned hacking and scams into an industrial-scale scourge, focusing on crypto heists and a widespread practice of tricking Western companies into hiring North Korean workers.
- A Binance spokesperson said the exchange's security teams are "reviewing all relevant information with urgency."
The big picture: If estimates hold up, the suspected Binance hack would be the biggest crypto attack in history.
- In 2025, North Korea-linked hackers stole about $1.5 billion worth of crypto from the Bybit exchange.
Between the lines: Crypto is a relatively common hacking target, but massive attacks can leave smaller exchanges vulnerable to collapse due to the potential for panicked withdrawals.
- Binance's size makes it more insulated, March said. "If this happened to any other business in crypto other than Binance, it would've been catastrophic."
- The exchange is capable of covering potential losses through its insurance and balance sheet, he said, although broad reverberations in crypto markets and prices remain possible.
The intrigue: Reports of a breach came just hours after Polymarket confirmed it was facing a cyberattack, prompting the decentralized predictions market operator to pause trading for an hour after an attacker made off with at least $2.7 million in user funds.
- Researchers at Hudson Rock tied the Polymarket incident to a breach involving third-party website monitoring tool DebugBear, which said earlier Thursday it was responding to its own security incident.
What to watch: Binance has yet to confirm who may be behind the attack and the total value of the currencies suspected hackers made off with.
Editor's note: This story has been updated with a statement from Binance and findings of security researchers.
