Binance freezes half of $6.3bn stolen in record crypto hack

Binance, the world’s largest crypto exchange, announced it has frozen roughly half of the $6.3bn (£4.7bn) taken in a “complex” hack.

The firm said about $3bn of the stolen digital assets have been secured, while the remainder remains in the hands of unidentified hackers.

Initial reports suggested a compromised engineer’s laptop allowed unauthorized withdrawals, but Binance later said the attack was broader, involving multiple points of breach.

Analytics firms have linked the incident to a North Korean hacking unit, surpassing the $1.5bn heist on the Bybit exchange in 2025.

The U.S. Secret Service said it is “working around the clock” to identify, freeze, trace and recover the stolen funds, and added that it will “identify the cyber criminals responsible and bring them to justice.” Binance confirmed it is cooperating with the FBI.

Although Binance’s U.S.-facing platform was not affected, U.S. jurisdiction still applies to the investigation and fund recovery, which typically involves a global law‑enforcement effort.

The hack also involved U.S.-linked stablecoins, including Tether and Circle, which are pegged to the dollar.

Binance told users “your money is safe, and we’re covering every loss.” The company initially suspended all deposits and withdrawals, then later clarified that deposits remain unaffected.

Co‑CEO Richard Teng said the breach was not carried out by a single individual and described a “self‑destruct mechanism” used by the hackers that destroyed tooling and traces, complicating the investigation.

Binance has set aside more than $6.34bn in company funds to cover the stolen assets and is actively buying a range of crypto tokens.

The hack rattled cryptocurrency markets on Friday, with Bitcoin falling 5% to $76,800 in New York afternoon trading.

As the industry watches the recovery effort, the incident underscores the escalating scale of cyber threats targeting digital finance.