Binance Covers 90% of $6.3 Billion Lost in Massive Crypto Hack
The world's largest cryptocurrency exchange announced it has secured funds to cover the majority of assets stolen in what is believed to be the largest crypto hack on record.
Binance, the world's largest cryptocurrency exchange, announced Saturday that it has covered 90% of the $6.3 billion in assets stolen during a hack that occurred on Thursday. The remaining 10% may require additional time to secure. The company has pledged to cover 100% of the losses, allocating over $6.34 billion from its corporate funds to do so.
"Binance will absorb the financial impact of these stolen funds, not our users," the exchange stated. It confirmed that all holdings of bitcoin, ethereum, and tether, along with seven other major crypto assets, are covered. The exchange is working to resume withdrawal services for users, with a target reopening date of Sunday, November 1.
The hack is suspected to be the largest in cryptocurrency history, surpassing the $1.5 billion heist from the Bybit exchange in 2025. An initial investigation by Binance suggested that a compromised engineer's laptop granted unauthorized access, though later updates indicated additional points of breach were uncovered.
Richard Teng, Binance's co-chief executive officer, stated that the hack involved more than one individual utilizing sophisticated methods, including a "self-destruct mechanism," to obscure their actions. On Friday, the company reported freezing approximately $3 billion of the stolen assets through collaboration with law enforcement and intelligence agencies. The U.S. Secret Service confirmed it is working with private sector partners to trace and recover the stolen funds.
Two major blockchain analytics firms have indicated intelligence pointing to the North Korean state-backed group known as The Lazarus Group, or TraderTraitor, as the likely perpetrators. The Federal Bureau of Investigation previously attributed a $1.5 billion theft from the Bybit exchange last year to North Korea, a charge that the country denies.
Founded in China in 2017, Binance allows users to trade digital assets and reportedly serves hundreds of millions of users globally. Cryptocurrency is defined as a digital asset without a physical form, accessible through digital wallets or computers.