North Korea blamed for $6 billion Binance crypto heist
North Korean hackers breached Binance and stole more than $US6 billion in the largest crypto heist ever.
Hackers linked to North Korea drained more than $US6 billion from Binance, the world's largest cryptocurrency exchange. The attack began just after 4pm New York time on Thursday.
The attackers tested their code with small transactions first. Then they stole crypto across at least four different blockchains.
Binance's security team was alerted via social media posts. They quickly activated a response and pulled together a war room.
About 100 people worked globally in the war room. Within minutes, rival firms Circle and Tether froze over $2.3 billion in related transactions.
Blockchain intelligence firms TRM Labs, Chainalysis and Elliptic all identified North Korea as the culprit. The FBI confirmed the attribution by the weekend.
Binance said it can easily cover customer losses. Staff internally expressed doubts about receiving bonuses.
- $6 billion
- Amount stolen
- About 100 people
- War room staff
- At least 4
- Blockchains hit
- $2.3 billion
- Frozen by Circle and Tether
Why it mattersThe heist threatens confidence in the crypto industry at a moment when US regulators are pushing for mainstream adoption, and it demonstrates the scale of risk in unregulated digital finance.
AustraliaAustralians who hold cryptocurrency on Binance or other exchanges face uncertainty about security measures, and the breach may influence how Australian regulators approach crypto oversight.
✓ Claims checked against the source and corrected before publish. checked 2 h ago
