Hackers Steal $6.3 Billion From Binance in Record Crypto Theft Linked by Analysts to North Korea

Nicosia, Cyprus. Hackers have taken $6.3 billion from Binance, the largest cryptocurrency exchange globally, in a record theft that analysts blame on North Korea and say could damage confidence in digital assets.

Market reaction and response

Cryptocurrency prices dropped after the news emerged. Binance suspended withdrawals and stated that it would absorb the losses. Stablecoin issuers, including Tether, Circle and the Trump-backed World Liberty Financial, swiftly froze roughly half of the stolen assets.

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How the attack unfolded

Most of the theft took place within about 20 minutes, starting late on Thursday. The US blockchain analysis firms TRM Labs and Chainalysis said the operation resembled earlier large attacks attributed to North Korea.

According to TRM, the attackers were able to instruct wallets used by Binance to transfer their contents into wallets controlled by the hackers. The firm noted that this matched a 2025 theft from the crypto exchange Bybit, which the US Federal Bureau of Investigation had linked to Pyongyang.

Attribution to North Korea

In an analysis published on its website, TRM said: “TRM attributes the attack to … North Korea’s elite hacking unit.” TRM and Chainalysis both said they had a high degree of confidence that North Korea was behind the hack.

US and South Korean authorities, along with cybersecurity experts, say North Korea has long relied on state-linked cyber units for espionage, financial theft and generating revenue. Pyongyang routinely rejects such claims. Its mission in Geneva and its embassy in China did not immediately reply to requests for comment from Reuters.

Binance’s statement

Binance said customer funds were secure and that it was cooperating with partners to freeze part of the affected assets, with about $3 billion located so far. The exchange expects to bring withdrawal services back within the next 48 hours. It gave no information on what happened to the other $3.3 billion.

Co-CEO Richard Teng wrote on X: “Your money is safe and we’re covering every loss.” He added that the exchange’s investigation had not yet assigned blame to any individual.