Hackers Stole More Than $6.3 Billion From Binance in What May Be the Largest Crypto Theft on Record
by Jerome London · Thought CatalogUpdated 3 hours ago, October 30, 2026
Binance temporarily halted deposits and withdrawals after hackers took more than $6.3 billion in digital assets, with the operation taking about 20 minutes, according to blockchain intelligence firm TRM Labs.
TRM Labs attributed the theft to TraderTraitor, a North Korean hacking group linked to earlier attacks on crypto exchanges. It said the attackers moved billions of dollars across 8 blockchain networks in roughly 15 minutes.
Binance co-chief executive Richard Teng said preliminary findings pointed to a potentially compromised laptop used by a DevOps engineer. He described a complex attack involving more than that engineer’s access permissions. Binance hasn’t assigned responsibility to any individual and is working with law enforcement.
The exchange said customers’ funds were safe and promised to cover losses from the incident. Its security team is investigating, and the company warned users to watch for scams.
More than $3 billion in stolen assets have been frozen, potentially blocking the attackers from cashing them out. TRM Labs chief policy officer Ari Redbord said the hackers still controlled about $2.4 billion in Bitcoin and Ether. Freezing assets doesn’t guarantee that the money will be recovered.
The theft is believed to be the largest in cryptocurrency history, exceeding the $1.5 billion taken from Bybit in 2025. That attack was also linked to North Korean hackers.
Crypto analyst Izabella Kaminska said the incident exposed how centralized many services marketed as decentralized remain. She warned that these systems lack the lender-of-last-resort support and deposit insurance available in banking.
Bitcoin traded around $77,000 early on October 30, down about 5% over 24 hours following news of the theft. Some smaller cryptocurrencies lost almost 10%.
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