Binance loses over $6 billion in largest crypto theft on record; analysts link attack to North Korea

Cryptocurrency exchange Binance has suffered what blockchain investigators describe as the largest crypto theft on record, with attackers draining more than $6 billion in digital assets from its online "hot" wallets.

Blockchain analytics firm TRM Labs estimated the loss at about $6.36 billion at the time the assets were taken, while Chainalysis put the total at roughly $6.4 billion. Both firms said the funds were moved out across about ten blockchains, including Ethereum, Bitcoin, Tron, XRP Ledger and Solana.

How the attack unfolded

According to TRM Labs, the main theft began at around 20:05 UTC on October 29 (1:35 am IST on October 30), and most of the funds left within about 20 minutes. On Ethereum, the attacker used pre-signed authorisations to take control of a Binance hot wallet and sweep its balance. On other chains, Binance wallets sent funds through what looked like ordinary signed transfers, which TRM said suggests the attacker gained control of the exchange's wallet signing system. Binance has not yet published a root cause.

Attribution and recovery

Both TRM Labs and Chainalysis attributed the attack to TraderTraitor, a North Korean hacking unit. Chainalysis said its strongest evidence was the mixing of stolen Binance funds with proceeds from an earlier exploit already linked to North Korean actors. TraderTraitor was also blamed by the FBI for the $1.5 billion theft from the Bybit exchange in February 2025; the Binance loss is about four times larger.

Stablecoin issuers including Tether and Circle, working with investigators and law enforcement, have frozen roughly $2.7 billion to $2.8 billion of the stolen assets, the two firms said. TRM estimated that the attacker still controls about $2.4 billion in assets beyond the reach of issuers, including large amounts of Ether and Bitcoin.

Binance co-founder Changpeng Zhao said on X that the exchange "appears to have been hacked" and that user funds were safe, Yahoo Finance reported. The exchange restricted withdrawals while its security teams investigated.

Why it matters for Indian users

Binance is one of the platforms used by Indian crypto traders, and the incident is a reminder of the risks of keeping large balances on any exchange. India's own WazirX exchange lost about $230 million in a 2024 hack also linked to North Korea. Users should rely only on official exchange channels for updates and be wary of scammers posing as recovery services.