North Korean hackers stole $6.3 billion from Binance, the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange, in a lightning-fast theft that an insider has called “the largest bank heist in human history.”
“This was a complex attack, and we are doing all we can in coordination with law enforcement to resolve it,” Binance said in a post about the breach, which has shaken the cryptocurrency market.
The cryptocurrency exchange said Friday that deposits were unaffected and that it was working with partners to freeze some of the affected assets, with about $3 billion located so far.
Withdrawals have been suspended for the next day or so. Binance did not mention the status of the remaining $3.3 billion, but said it will cover all losses.
TRM Labs, a US-based blockchain intelligence firm, pinned the attack on TraderTraitor, which it described as North Korea’s elite hacking unit.
“We make this judgment with high confidence,” the firm said, noting that “several features of this attack match earlier North Korea-linked heists.”
“An attacker moved approximately USD 6.36 billion out of Binance wallets on ten blockchains, most of it in about 20 minutes,” TRM said.
That would make the hack the largest cryptocurrency theft on record — surpassing the massive $1.5 billion that was stolen when the Bybit exchange was targeted last year, also pinned on North Korea.
One industry insider described the latest hack to Sky News as “the largest bank heist in human history.”
It is also “the biggest hack in history,” Aravind Srinivasan at market maker GSR said.
Blockchain analysis company Chainalysis also believes the Binance hack was “likely done by DPRK group TraderTraitor,” its co-founder and CEO Jonathan Levin wrote on X.
When asked to comment about the breach’s potential ties to North Korea, a Binance spokesman only said it was working with law enforcement “to confirm the identity of the criminals and bring them to justice.”
Binance maintains a $1 billion bitcoin reserve asset fund for users designed to protect customer assets in the event of security breaches, according to its website.
Co-CEO Teng said that “and company funds” would cover losses.
Hackers were able to steal funds by accessing an engineer’s laptop, Binance noted after its initial investigation.
“The attacker use a complex process and not a “one-click action,” said Binance Co-CEO Richard Teng. There is no evidence of the hacker still having direct access to funds, the company added.
Bitcoin fell to a six-week-low at $77,646 and ether fell to a two-month low of $2,238. A Binance token used to pay exchange fees was down more than 8%, according to CoinGecko, a crypto market aggregator.
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