Hackers emptied wallets linked to Binance and made off with roughly $6.3 billion in cryptocurrency, equivalent to about $8.9 billion, in what blockchain analytics firms say could be the biggest crypto theft ever.
TRM Labs said the attackers targeted Binance wallets across 10 blockchains and moved most of the funds in about 20 minutes, while Chainalysis and other analysts described the incident as potentially the largest heist in crypto history.
Binance said it had located and worked with partners to freeze about US$3 billion of the assets linked to the breach, but gave no firm update on the remaining US$3.3 billion. Co-founder Yi He told users the exchange would cover “all hacking losses”.
An initial internal probe at Binance indicated the breach may have begun when an engineer’s laptop was compromised, allowing an attacker to access a system and make unauthorised withdrawals. The exchange suspended deposits and withdrawals as a precaution and said that “User funds remain safe” while security checks are carried out.
Markets reacted quickly: bitcoin fell more than 3 per cent to about US$76,368, and ether lost over 3 per cent, sliding to near US$2,178. Analysts warned the incident could reduce appetite for risk and lead investors to reassess the safety of assets held on centralised exchanges.
TRM and Chainalysis suggested the techniques resembled earlier thefts attributed to North Korean groups, including a 2025 hack of Bybit that the US FBI linked to Pyongyang. TRM said it made that judgement “with high confidence”.
“It’s the biggest hack in history,” said Aravind Srinivasan, head of GSR’s systematic OTC business.
Tim Sun, senior researcher at HashKey Group in Hong Kong, said the attack highlighted counterparty, solvency and liquidity risks tied to keeping assets on exchanges, and could prompt investors to rethink where they store digital holdings.
Stablecoin issuer Tether said it had frozen nearly US$1.57 billion of assets it identified as linked to the incident, while Circle reported it had frozen more than US$800 million. Other custodians and industry partners have also been involved in tracing and freezing funds.
Binance reported 335 million registered users and about US$162.8 billion in assets under custody in its 2025 annual report, figures that underline the potential scale of fallout from such a breach. Blockchain intelligence firm Arkham and others confirmed data showing billions had been moved out of Binance-controlled wallets.
Security firms noted the attack follows a string of significant crypto thefts in recent years. TRM Labs said attackers stole about US$2.9 billion across nearly 150 incidents last year, and exchanges including Bitget have reported large losses in 2026.
Bernardo Brites, chief executive of Trace Finance, warned that advances in artificial intelligence were making it harder to keep up with vulnerabilities, and said users may shift away from smaller and mid-sized exchanges if those platforms cannot demonstrate they can absorb large-scale hacks.
