Binance hacked for $6.3B, withdrawals suspended

Binance, the world's largest cryptocurrency exchange, reported a security breach impacting $6.3 billion in funds, with approximately half of those assets frozen. The incident occurred late Thursday, marking what investigators describe as the largest crypto hack in history.

Customer withdrawals have been suspended, and co-CEO Richard Teng stated the exchange will cover all losses. Teng emphasized that customer assets are safe, adding that the company has funds set aside in a Secure Asset Fund for Users to handle extreme cases.

The hack was described as a complex attack, not carried out by a single individual. Initial findings indicated a compromised laptop, but further review revealed broader security breaches. Teng noted the attacker used a self-destruct mechanism to destroy tooling and tracers.

Binance reported that about $3 billion in assets have been frozen on-chain with the assistance of stablecoin issuers such as Tether and Circle. Co-CEO Yi He stated that customer withdrawals should resume within the next 48 hours.

The attack has caused significant volatility in crypto markets, with Bitcoin dropping 5% and ether falling 4%. Other crypto-related stocks also declined, with shares of Circle, Coinbase, Robinhood, and Strategy falling between 8% and 14%.

Frozen assets include over $2 billion in stablecoins, with Tether and Circle freezing more than $1.567 billion and $800 million respectively. World Liberty Financial also froze $27 million in its stablecoin associated with the hack.