Crypto giant Binance hit by 'largest hack in history'

The digital asset ecosystem has been shaken after cryptocurrency giant Binance confirmed on Thursday that digital assets worth $6.3bn, equivalent to roughly 4.7bn pounds, have been impacted by what is being described as the largest hack in history.

Initial investigations conducted by the exchange indicate that the security breach may have originated from a compromised laptop belonging to an engineer, which subsequently enabled an unauthorized actor to execute illicit withdrawals. Binance clarified that the incident exclusively affects Binance.com, whereas its much smaller affiliate platform Binance.US, which tailors its trading services specifically to American residents, remains unaffected.

Stock photo for illustration only, not from the actual event

Artificial intelligence-powered investigation firm TRM Labs has attributed the massive security breach—which eclipses the previous record-setting $1.5bn hack on the Bybit exchange in 2025—to a North Korean state-linked hacking unit known as TraderTraitor. In its published report, TRM emphasized a high degree of confidence in this attribution, noting that several distinct characteristics of the exploit mirror earlier North Korean-associated operations, including the Bybit incident.

In response to the crisis, Yi He, the co-chief executive of Binance, took to social media to express gratitude toward various cryptocurrency issuers for their swift action in freezing the targeted assets. Reaffirming the platform's security posture, she stated that withdrawal services are temporarily disabled until the operational environment is thoroughly verified as secure.

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

Yi He

Industry-wide cooperation quickly materialized as two major stablecoin issuers, Tether and Circle, announced they have collectively frozen roughly $2.4bn in digital assets tied to the exploit. Circle CEO Jeremy Allaire stated that his firm is closely monitoring the situation and has locked down over $800m in USDC assets associated with the incident, while Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino confirmed that his company has frozen approximately $1.6bn linked to the breach. Furthermore, World Liberty Financial—a crypto firm associated with US President Donald Trump and his family—along with major exchange Coinbase, confirmed they are monitoring the situation and cooperating to prevent the laundering of stolen funds.