Singapore/Tokyo: Binance, the world's largest cryptocurrency exchange, has reportedly suffered a massive cyberattack involving $6.3 billion in cryptocurrency, raising fresh concerns about security across the digital asset industry.
Blockchain analysis firms TRM Labs and Chainalysis have expressed high confidence that North Korea was behind the attack. The incident triggered a decline in cryptocurrency prices, while Binance temporarily halted withdrawals and assured users that their funds were safe.
The exchange also said it would cover the losses. Stablecoin issuers, including Tether, Circle and World Liberty Financial, reportedly moved to freeze a substantial portion of the affected assets.
Attack Allegedly Unfolded Within 20 Minutes
According to blockchain analysis firms, the bulk of the alleged theft took place within approximately 20 minutes late on Thursday.
TRM Labs said the attackers appeared to have manipulated wallets used by Binance to transfer funds into wallets controlled by them. The method reportedly resembled a 2025 attack on cryptocurrency exchange Bybit, which the US Federal Bureau of Investigation attributed to North Korea.
Both TRM Labs and Chainalysis said their findings strongly indicated North Korean involvement.
North Korea has previously been accused by US and South Korean authorities of using state-linked cyber operations to generate revenue through cryptocurrency theft. Pyongyang has routinely denied such allegations.
Binance Says User Funds Are Safe
Binance said it was working with security partners and stablecoin issuers to freeze the affected assets.
According to the exchange, approximately $3 billion had been located so far. It also expected withdrawal services to resume within 48 hours.
Co-CEO Richard Teng said on X that user funds were safe and the company would cover the losses.
However, the status of the remaining $3.3 billion was not immediately clear.
Cryptocurrency Prices Fall Following Attack
The reported cyberattack triggered selling across cryptocurrency markets.
Bitcoin dropped to a six-week low of $76,368, while Ethereum fell more than 3% to a two-month low of $2,178 before prices stabilised.
Binance's BNB token also declined by around 5% over 24 hours to $709.70, according to CoinGecko.
Shares of cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase Global fell 4.8%, despite the company saying it was unaffected. Shares of Strategy, a major corporate holder of Bitcoin, also declined nearly 6% in extended US trading.
Market participants warned that the incident could weaken investor confidence in centralised cryptocurrency exchanges.
Compromised Laptop Under Investigation
Binance's preliminary investigation suggested that a compromised laptop belonging to one of its engineers may have provided the initial entry point for the attackers.
The company said its security team was tracing the attack through the affected computer to determine how unauthorised withdrawals were carried out.
Mark Karpeles, former chief of the now-defunct cryptocurrency exchange Mt. Gox, suggested that attackers may have gained access to private keys associated with at least two Binance wallets.
He noted that Binance had distributed its assets across multiple systems, potentially limiting the extent of losses from a single security breach.
Billions in Assets Frozen by Stablecoin Issuers
Several cryptocurrency companies reportedly took steps to freeze funds connected to the incident.
Tether said it had frozen nearly $1.57 billion in assets linked to the attack, while Circle froze more than $800 million.
World Liberty Financial said it worked with custodian BitGo to freeze affected funds. Binance co-founder Yi He also reported that $27 million in stablecoins and approximately $2 million worth of World Liberty tokens had been frozen.
Cryptocurrency company Ripple reportedly froze another $200 million in funds, according to Yi.
The incident has renewed concerns about security vulnerabilities in the cryptocurrency industry, which has witnessed several major thefts in recent years.
According to TRM Labs, approximately $2.9 billion worth of cryptocurrency was stolen across nearly 150 attacks last year. In September, cryptocurrency exchange Bitget also reported a theft involving approximately $350 million.
