Binance Hack Worth $6.3 Billion Could Be Largest Crypto Theft Ever
Binance says a breach that began with one engineer’s laptop has hit about $6.3 billion in funds. Deposits and withdrawals are on hold while the exchange tracks the money.
Hong Kong, Octobar 30- The Binance hack that came to light this week could be the largest cryptocurrency theft in history. Binance, the world’s biggest cryptocurrency exchange, said on Friday that the incident had an estimated impact of about $6.3 billion, raising alarm across the digital asset industry.
The company said it has been working closely with partners to freeze the affected funds in an effort to prevent them from being moved or cashed out. So far, approximately $3 billion has been identified and locked, but Binance has not disclosed what has happened to the remaining amount or whether it can be recovered.
Binance co-founder Yi He sought to reassure users, saying the exchange would cover all losses resulting from the hack. The company has not, however, clearly confirmed that funds were actually stolen, leaving many questions unanswered about the exact nature and scale of the breach.
“Rest assured that user funds are completely safe,” a Binance spokesperson said. The company added that its teams are working around the clock to investigate the incident, secure the platform, and recover any affected assets.
The trouble appears to have begun with a single laptop. An initial investigation by Binance found that a device used by one of its engineers had been compromised, giving the attacker a way into one of the company’s internal systems.
From that point, the attacker was reportedly able to carry out unauthorized withdrawals, according to Binance. The company said it is still working to determine the full extent of the breach and how much of the missing money can be recovered.
For the time being, all deposits and withdrawals on Binance have been suspended. The exchange described the move as a precautionary safety measure while its security teams conduct a thorough review of its wallets and track the movement of the missing funds. Binance said it is also receiving assistance from law enforcement agencies and other companies across the cryptocurrency industry as it works to contain the damage.
Blockchain data show the money began to leave Binance wallets late on Thursday. Several crypto news sites reported that more than $3 billion left two of its wallets in about 40 minutes.
Markets fell quickly. In early Asian trading on Friday, bitcoin dropped more than 3% to $76,368. That was its lowest level in six weeks. Ether also lost more than 3%.
BNB, the token first launched as Binance Coin, was down about 5% over 24 hours. Shares in Coinbase Global slid 4.8% in late trading in the United States. Strategy, a company that buys bitcoin, lost nearly 6%.
Analytics firm Chainalysis and other experts said the Binance hack could be the biggest crypto heist on record. “It’s the biggest hack in history,” said Aravind Srinivasan of the market maker GSR.
And the damage may not stop with Binance. Crypto was already under pressure from high interest rates in the United States and weaker demand from exchange-traded fund buyers, analysts said. Tim Sun, a senior researcher at HashKey Group in Hong Kong, said the incident may make investors less willing to take risks. He said they may also rethink how safe their money is on large, central exchanges.
Other crypto firms moved fast. Tether, which issues the largest dollar-backed stablecoin, said it froze about $1.57 billion linked to the incident. Circle froze more than $800 million. Ripple froze about $200 million, Yi said.
World Liberty Financial, a crypto company tied to United States President Donald Trump and his family, also said it helped freeze funds. It worked with the custodian BitGo on that step.
Binance has 335 million registered users around the world. It held about $162.8 billion in customer assets as of its 2025 annual report. It also keeps an emergency fund, held only in bitcoin, to protect users if it is ever hacked.
Changpeng Zhao founded Binance in 2017. He stepped down as chief executive in 2023, after he pleaded guilty to a charge tied to his failure to stop money laundering on the platform. Trump pardoned him in 2025.
Zhao said on X that the event does look like a hack. He no longer runs the exchange. But as a shareholder, he said, he expects all user funds to be fully covered.
Bernardo Brites, chief executive of the payments firm Trace Finance, said hacks are getting harder to stop. He said artificial intelligence can find weak spots faster than companies can fix them. So he expects users to move away from small and mid-sized exchanges that could not cover a large loss.
The Binance hack is the latest in a long run of crypto thefts. Attackers stole $2.9 billion in nearly 150 attacks last year, according to TRM Labs. In September, the exchange Bitget said it lost about $350 million.
Binance.US, a separate company, said it was not affected. Coinbase also said it was not hit and is watching the situation.
In an unrelated case on Thursday, the prediction market Polymarket briefly stopped trading after a security problem at an outside provider. It has since reopened and said it will fully repay affected traders.
