Hackers steal $6.3BILLION from crypto giant Binance in 'biggest hack in history' blamed on elite North Koreans

Sign up for our US Editor's Picks newsletter for the best exclusive stories READ: Alexander brothers assaulted in prison Published: 00:35 EDT, 30 October 2026 | Updated: 03:41 EDT, 30 October 2026 Cryptocurrency platform Binance said it was the target of a $6.3 billion heist which could be the largest in history and may have been led by North Korean hackers.The company – the world's largest crypto exchange by daily trading volumes – posted a series of sometimes contradictory messages on X, insisting that 'user funds are completely safe' but also saying it would 'cover all losses.'Binance said late Thursday the estimated total impact was 'around $6.3 billion,' which could be one of the most significant of such security incidents on record.It was not immediately clear the extent of the damage hackers might have been able to cause, and Binance had not explicitly confirmed that funds had been pilfered. The company said its teams were 'working around the clock' to resolve the issue.AI-powered investigations company TRM Labs said elements of the attack resembled earlier North Korea-linked hacks.A Binance spokesman said: 'Rest assured that user funds are completely safe.'Our security teams are reviewing all relevant information with urgency, and we will provide updates through official Binance channels as soon as we have verified information,' the statement continued.The company said it has worked with blockchain partners to freeze affected assets, with roughly $3 billion frozen on-chain so far.'Binance´s 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. Binance co-founders Changpeng Zhao and Yi He, who started the company in July 2017 The company said late Thursday the estimated total impact was at more than $6 billion'We have found no evidence of any wallet private key leak,' it added.Binance said it will share more technical details once the investigation is complete and when the facts are 'fully verified.''Our teams work closely with law enforcement, issuers, blockchain intelligence firms and industry partners to trace and freeze additional assets,' the company wrote in a separate post earlier Thursday.Binance also said all deposits and withdrawals are temporarily suspended while it conducts security checks, freezes funds and works with law enforcement.Stablecoin providers Tether and Circle each said they froze funds Thursday in response to the incident.Jeremy Allaire, co-founder and CEO of Circle, wrote on X that the company had frozen the equivalent of more than $800 million in currency associated with the incident 'in coordination with law enforcement.'Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino said on X that the company froze the equivalent of more than $1.5 billion in currency related to 'a potential Binance exchange hack.'The price of bitcoin dropped 3.2 percent Thursday evening to under $79,000.Binance was founded in 2017 by Changpeng Zhao, who in 2023 pleaded guilty to a felony related to his failure to prevent money laundering on the platform and stepped down as CEO. President Donald Trump pardoned him in 2025.Zhao posted on X on Thursday that 'User funds are safe!' but added that the incident 'does look like a hack on Binance.' He added that while he doesn´t manage Binance anymore, 'as a shareholder, I expect all user funds will be fully covered.' Binance also said all deposits and withdrawals are temporarily suspended while it conducts security checks, freezes funds and works with law enforcementJoin the discussionShould crypto exchanges be held fully responsible for reimbursing users after massive hacks?What's your view?Zhao was released from prison in 2024 after being sentenced for violating the Bank Secrecy Act.He was the first person ever sentenced to prison time for violations of that law, which requires US financial institutions to know who their customers are, to monitor transactions and to file reports of suspicious activity.Prosecutors said no one had ever violated the regulations to the extent Zhao did. Zhao and Binance have been key supporters of some of the Trump family´s crypto enterprises.