Crypto giant Binance hit by hack suspected to be largest in history

ByOsmond Chia Business reporter. 30 October 2026, 00: 37 GMT.

Key points

• It eclipses a record-setting $1.5bn hack on the Bybit exchange in 2025, to a North Korean hacking unit called TraderTraitor.
• 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.
• The firm stated in 2024 that it has more than $160bn in assets under custody.
• Two other major crypto platforms, Tether and Circle, remarked they have frozen a total of concerning $2.4bn of assets in response to the potential Binance hack.
• Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino remarked his firm has frozen around $1.6bn "related to a potential Binance exchange hack."

Cryptocurrency giant Binance remarked on Thursday that $6.3bn (£4.7bn) of digital assets have been impacted by what has been described as the "largest hack in history".

For context, the world's biggest crypto exchange remarked concerning half of those assets have been frozen with the support of other platforms, adding that it will "cover all losses".

Early checks show the incident may have involved an engineer's laptop that had been compromised. It allowed an attacker to create unauthorised withdrawals, Binance stated.

Two analytics firms have attributed the incident. It eclipses a record-setting $1.5bn hack on the Bybit exchange in 2025, to a North Korean hacking unit called TraderTraitor.

AI-powered investigations firm TRM Labs stated in a report that a number of elements of the Binance attack resemble earlier North Korean-linked incidents, including the Bybit hack.

Notably, the lab's global head of policy Ari Redbord informed the BBC the Binance hack is a "watershed moment" that is unlike anything the industry has seen.

Meanwhile, the attacker still holds an enormous sum of stolen assets, meaning efforts to trace and recover the funds are far from over, Redbord continued.

Chainalysis, another crypto analytics firm, additionally stated it has "high confidence" that the North Korean group are linked to the hack.

Eric Jardine, Chainalysis' Head of Research, pressed every exchange to remain vigilant as the platforms are attractive targets for hackers due to the sheer value of assets.

Binance did not directly respond to BBC queries regarding the incident's potential links to North Korea but stated: "We are working closely with our law enforcement partners to confirm the identity of these criminals and bring them to justice."

Notably, the incident reservations Binance.com – while much smaller crypto platform Binance.US. It provides trading services specifically for American residents – stated its platform is not affected by the matter.

In a series of posts, Yi He, Binance's co-chief executive, thanked various cryptocurrency issuers for freezing the assets.

"Safety first: withdrawals are currently disabled until the environment is confirmed to be secure, " she remarked.

Circle chief executive Jeremy Allaire remarked his firm is "closely tracking reports of a potential exploit involving Binance" and that his business has frozen more than $800m in assets linked to the incident.

Circle is the issuer and co-creator of the USDC, one of the world's largest US dollar-backed cryptocurrencies.

"Protecting the industry and our partners is our main priority, " remarked Ardoino, whose business problems a cryptocurrency known as USDT.

World Liberty Financial, a crypto firm linked to US President Donald Trump and his family, stated it has worked with its partners to freeze stolen funds.

Crypto exchange Coinbase remarked it was unaffected by the incident and was monitoring the situation.

In practice, a number of crypto industry observers had flagged worries regarding a potential hack on Binance hours before the exchange confirmed the security problem.

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. The exchange has been subject of regulatory scrutiny worldwide.

In practice, the firm stated in 2024 that it has more than $160bn in assets under custody.

Bitcoin dropped by more than 4% after the alerts. The cost of other major cryptocurrencies including Ethereum and Solana additionally fell sharply.

Taken together, the developments around crypto giant Binance hit by hack suspected to be largest in history point to a situation that is still moving, and the coming days should bring more clarity.