6 Billion Dollars Vanished From Binance In Record Crypto Heist

Hackers drained more than $6 billion from Binance on Thursday, setting a new record for the largest cryptocurrency theft. By late Thursday night in the US, a coalition of crypto firms had frozen approximately $3 billion of the stolen assets. This action represents a rapid response as the digital money moved through various networks.

The breach targeted digital wallets held by the world's largest crypto exchange. Binance reported that an engineer's laptop was hacked, allowing an attacker to access a service container. This access enabled the submission of unauthorized withdrawal transactions.

The company stated it would cover all losses using its own funds and an emergency assets fund. Binance assured users that their funds remain safe. The exchange temporarily suspended deposits and withdrawals to complete security checks. It also revoked authorization for the affected address and engaged law enforcement and blockchain intelligence partners.

Industry leaders expressed surprise at the scale of the loss. Aravind Srinivasan, head of systematic OTC business at GSR, told Reuters that this is the biggest hack in history. He noted that the event shatters previous records for crypto thefts.

TRM Labs attributed the incident to an elite North Korean hacking unit. The firm based this conclusion on on and off-chain intelligence. Pangolin Intelligence, a Singapore-based tracking firm, agreed with this attribution. An analyst from Pangolin Intelligence said they correlated the on-chain activity with data from previous known incidents involving North Korean cyber units.

The Pangolin analyst told CNN that the cat and mouse game has barely begun yet. They added that North Korea is likely to use a network of money laundering organizations to cash out the stolen funds. Chainalysis, another tracking company, reported that the stolen funds are moving across multiple blockchains, including Bitcoin and Ethereum. A Chainalysis spokesperson expressed high confidence that North Korea is behind the hack.

North Korea's mission at the UN has been contacted for comment. Pyongyang has previously denied similar allegations. The FBI and the US Secret Service have also been requested for comment. In past investigations, the FBI has deployed on-call analyst teams to help freeze stolen money.

If North Korea is confirmed as the culprit, it would align with previous findings. North Korean hackers were blamed for the prior record theft of $1.5 billion from Bybit. That theft equaled a significant portion of North Korea's reported annual gross domestic product. Current and former US and South Korean officials say these hacking teams are a key revenue source for the regime. A 2023 investigation found that South Korean intelligence helped seize about $1 million in stolen crypto from a victim.