Binance hit by $6.3bn hack, biggest crypto heist ever

Cryptocurrency exchange Binance has said about $6.3bn in funds were stolen in a “security incident” that appears to be the biggest crypto heist in history.

The world’s largest crypto exchange said on Thursday it had suspended all deposits and withdrawals, while about $3bn in funds had been frozen.

Binance said an initial investigation suggested a hacker made unauthorised transactions after accessing an engineer’s compromised laptop. It said it would cover all losses, adding that user funds were “safe”.

“Our teams are working around the clock to resolve this issue safely and thoroughly,” Binance said in a statement to Al Jazeera.

Binance said it is working with law enforcement partners and will share a “detailed” technical post-mortem once investigations are complete.

Blockchain intelligence firm TRM said it assessed with “high confidence” that North Korea’s hacking unit TraderTraitor, linked to the Lazarus Group, carried out the attack. TRM’s Ari Redbord described it as “unprecedented”.

Bitcoin fell about 5 percent following the heist, dropping below $77,000.

The previous record was a $1.5bn Bybit heist in 2025, also blamed on North Korea’s Lazarus Group.