Economy News

Binance's $6.3bn hack: who is blamed, and how much is really lost?

Binance, the world's largest cryptocurrency exchange, says about $6.3bn of digital assets were affected in an attack late on Thursday, believed to be the biggest crypto theft on record. BBC News reports that two analytics firms have attributed it to a North Korean hacking unit called TraderTraitor.

South Korea's Yonhap, citing the US blockchain firm TRM Labs, adds detail: most of the funds were taken in about 20 minutes across 10 blockchain networks, and the hackers began preparing at least 36 hours in advance. The previous record, the $1.5bn theft from the Bybit exchange in February 2025, was also attributed to TraderTraitor by the FBI.

“This incident is almost certainly the single largest known theft of any kind.” — Tom Robinson, Elliptic, via The Guardian

India's Hindustan Times tracked Binance's own changing account. It first said the breach may have involved one engineer's compromised laptop, then called it a “complex attack” with “additional points of breach”. Withdrawals were paused and expected to resume within 45 hours; deposits were not affected.

How each outlet framed it

• BBC News — who is blamed, and Binance's effort to recover the money.
• The Guardian — the scale, “the biggest heist of any kind”, and what it means for people who hold crypto.
• Yonhap — the North Korean trail in detail: the TraderTraitor group, the 20-minute window and the Bybit precedent.
• Hindustan Times — Binance's shifting explanation, from one laptop to a complex attack.
• NPR — Binance's first cautious statement, which did not yet confirm that funds were stolen.

Where the numbers differ: Yonhap, citing TRM Labs, puts the theft at $6.36bn, with $2.7bn frozen and about $2.4bn still under the hackers' control. Binance itself said about $3bn had been frozen so far.