Binance Hit by $6.3 Billion Crypto Heist
Investigation points to compromised engineer's laptop as bitcoin price drops and stablecoin providers freeze funds.
Carla Rooney
Binance has suffered a cryptocurrency heist totaling $6.3 billion.
The incident stands as the largest crypto heist ever recorded. Aravind Srinivasan confirmed, "It's the biggest hack in history."
It's the biggest hack in history.
Half of the stolen assets have been frozen, but many remain in the hands of the hackers. Stablecoin providers Tether and Circle confirmed they froze funds in response to the incident.
Bitcoin and ether, which cannot be frozen by issuers, account for an estimated $2.4 billion beyond reach. Attackers have been mixing stolen funds with proceeds from a previous attack on Bitget.
The price of bitcoin dropped 3.2 percent to under $79,000 on Thursday. Cryptocurrencies fell on Friday following the theft, and the total market value of stablecoins declined.
Shares in Coinbase Global slid 4.8%, and Strategy fell nearly 6% in extended US trading. Coinbase stated it was unaffected and was monitoring the situation.
Prediction market operator Polymarket temporarily halted trading after a security incident involving a third-party provider. Trading has since resumed, and Polymarket pledged to reimburse affected traders.
Previous major crypto thefts include the $320 million Wormhole theft in February 2022, involving ether tokens, and the Coincheck exchange in Tokyo losing $530 million in January 2018 from a hot wallet. Kok Tin Gan offered a technical insight, stating, "This looks like one signature that gave the attacker a never-expiring, full-access token to a Binance hot wallet."
Binance stated that user deposits remain safe and withdrawal services will resume within 48 hours. Changpeng Zhao affirmed, "User funds are safe!"