Binance, the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange by daily trading volume, says it may have suffered a $6.3 billion security breach—potentially the biggest crypto heist ever recorded—with investigators examining possible links to North Korean hackers.
The exchange issued several messages on X that appeared to strike different tones. While Binance stressed that “user funds are completely safe,” it also pledged to “cover all losses” connected to the incident.
In an update released late Thursday, Binance put the estimated impact at “around $6.3 billion,” a figure that would place the incident among the most serious cryptocurrency security breaches in history.
The precise extent of the damage remained unclear, and Binance had not directly confirmed that customer funds were stolen. The company said its teams were working continuously to contain the situation and determine what happened.
TRM Labs, an artificial intelligence-powered blockchain investigations firm, said parts of the attack appeared similar to previous breaches associated with North Korea.
A Binance spokesperson said: “Rest assured that user funds are completely safe.”
“Our security teams are reviewing all relevant information with urgency, and we will provide updates through official Binance channels as soon as we have verified information,” the statement added.
Binance said it had coordinated with blockchain partners to immobilize assets connected to the incident, with approximately $3 billion frozen on-chain so far.
“Binance’s initial investigation suggests that the security incident may involve a compromised DevOps engineer’s laptop, which allowed an attacker to gain access to a service container and submit unauthorized withdrawal transactions,” the company wrote.
Binance said it may have been hit by a $6.3 billion cryptocurrency heist, potentially the largest ever recorded. Founder Changpeng Zhao is pictured
The exchange estimated late Thursday that the total impact had surpassed $6 billion
“We have found no evidence of any wallet private key leak,” Binance added.
The exchange said it would release further technical information after its investigation concludes and the findings have been “fully verified.”
“Our teams work closely with law enforcement, issuers, blockchain intelligence firms and industry partners to trace and freeze additional assets,” Binance said in an earlier post Thursday.
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Deposits and withdrawals were also temporarily halted as Binance carried out security reviews, attempted to freeze related funds and cooperated with law enforcement agencies.
Stablecoin companies Tether and Circle separately announced Thursday that they had frozen funds linked to the incident.
Circle co-founder and CEO Jeremy Allaire said on X that the company had frozen more than $800 million in currency associated with the breach, acting “in coordination with law enforcement.”
Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino said the company had frozen more than $1.5 billion in currency connected to “a potential Binance exchange hack.”
Bitcoin fell 3.2 percent Thursday evening, dropping below $79,000.
Changpeng Zhao founded Binance in 2017. In 2023, he pleaded guilty to a felony after failing to prevent money laundering on the platform and resigned as CEO. President Donald Trump pardoned him in 2025.
Zhao wrote on X Thursday that “User funds are safe!” He acknowledged, however, that the incident “does look like a hack on Binance.” Although he no longer runs the exchange, Zhao said, “as a shareholder, I expect all user funds will be fully covered.”
Binance said deposits and withdrawals were temporarily suspended while it conducted security checks, froze assets and worked with law enforcement
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Zhao was released from prison in 2024 after being sentenced for violating the Bank Secrecy Act.
He became the first person sentenced to prison for violating the law, which requires U.S. financial institutions to verify customers’ identities, monitor transactions and report suspicious activity.
Prosecutors said no one had previously violated the regulations on the scale attributed to Zhao. Zhao and Binance have also been prominent supporters of some of the Trump family’s cryptocurrency ventures.
