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The firm recognized as the largest cryptocurrency exchange globally in terms of daily trading volume released a series of mixed messages on X. They reassured users that “their funds are entirely secure” while also asserting they would “compensate for all losses.”
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Subsequently, Binance announced via its Latin America account that “the overall estimated impact is roughly $6.3 billion (€5.5 billion).”
“We are collaborating with blockchain associates to suspend the impacted assets, with approximately $3 billion (€2.6 billion) frozen on-chain thus far,” they detailed.
This figure greatly surpasses the previous record for a cyberattack of this nature, which was $1.5 billion (€1.3 billion) stolen in February 2025 from the Bybit exchange.
The Bybit incident was linked to a hacking group known as TraderTraitor, which has alleged ties to North Korea.
On Thursday, blockchain analysis firm TRM Labs expressed “high confidence” that the assault on Binance was also carried out by TraderTraitor, referring to “extensive on and off-chain intelligence.”
“Several characteristics of this breach align with past heists associated with North Korea,” TRM indicated.
TraderTraitor is believed to be affiliated with the Lazarus Group, which gained infamy in 2014 for its hacking of Sony Pictures in retaliation for the movie “The Interview,” satirizing Kim Jong Un.
Asset Freeze
At around 0030 GMT (0230 CEST) on Friday, Binance announced a “temporary suspension of all deposits and withdrawals while our team performs security checks, freezes funds, and cooperates with law enforcement.”
“This amount may continue to rise as our team collaborates with law enforcement, issuers, blockchain intelligence firms, and industry partners to track and freeze more assets,” the company explained.
According to their statement on X, an initial review proposed that the breach was facilitated by a compromised laptop belonging to a “DevOps engineer,” which allowed unauthorized access to a “service container” enabling withdrawal transactions.
“We have found no evidence of any private key leaks from wallets,” Binance stated, assuring that a thorough technical report would be released after investigations conclude.
Paolo Ardoino, CEO of Tether, a firm that produces the cryptocurrency USDT, mentioned that they have frozen about $1.6 billion (€1.4 billion) “connected to a potential Binance exchange hack.”
Jeremy Allaire, head of cryptocurrency platform Circle, noted that his company had frozen over $800 million (€696 million) in USDC.
Both USDT and USDC are classified as “stablecoins,” digital currencies tied to traditional currencies, specifically the US dollar.
Requests for comments were not immediately responded to by the US Department of Justice and the FBI.
Cryptocurrency Market Reaction
For several hours before Binance acknowledged the breach, market analysts reported that hackers had likely infiltrated the platform.
The announcement of the cyberattack led to a decline in the prices of most significant cryptocurrencies, aside from stablecoins, which are designed to maintain stable values.
Around 0400 GMT (0600 CEST), Bitcoin and Ethereum recorded drops of 0.8%, having previously plunged nearly 5% and 6% respectively. Meanwhile, Binance’s own token, BNB, saw a 2.7% increase after experiencing a nearly 10% decline.
This incident comes amid growing concerns that advancements in artificial intelligence (AI) could pose risks to cryptographic and IT security protocols.
Additional sources • AFP