A record-breaking cyberattack drained roughly $6.3 billion in digital assets from Binance on Thursday, marking the largest cryptocurrency theft in history and triggering a sharp sell-off across digital currency markets, NBC News and CBS News reported.
Binance, the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange, halted customer withdrawals Friday while insisting that user deposits remained intact and that the exchange would absorb all financial losses. The platform expects withdrawal services to resume within a day or two, CBS News reported.
A 20-Minute Digital Heist
The swift operation unfolded in about 20 minutes starting around 4 p.m. Eastern time Thursday, according to blockchain intelligence company TRM Labs. Attackers moved approximately $6.36 billion from exchange wallets across 10 separate blockchains, CBS News reported.
Blockchain intelligence firms pointed to elite state-sponsored cyber operatives. TRM Labs and Chainalysis both stated with high confidence that the assault was likely executed by TraderTraitor, a specialized unit of North Korea’s Lazarus Group, CBS News reported. The same group was linked to a $1.5 billion breach of Dubai-based crypto exchange Bybit in 2025, according to the FBI.
The U.S. Secret Service confirmed it is coordinating with the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia and private partners, including stablecoin issuer Circle, to track, freeze and recover the assets, NBC News reported.
Binance Pledges to Cover Losses
Binance executives rushed to reassure hundreds of millions of users worldwide that their balances remain secure. In a video statement Friday, Binance co-CEO Richard Teng said corporate holdings bore the brunt of the attack, NBC News reported.
“Your assets are safe,” Teng said. “We never use customer funds, so they are not impacted.”
The company said it has already frozen around $3 billion of the stolen tokens across multiple networks with the help of industry partners, according to CNBC. However, TRM Labs estimated that at least $2.4 billion in Bitcoin and Ethereum will never be recovered, NBC News reported.
To make clients whole, Binance plans to tap its $1 billion emergency reserve, known as the Secure Asset Fund for Users, and allocate company capital. The exchange said it set aside $5 billion and was working with partners to acquire an additional $1.34 billion in tokens to cover the gap, NBC News reported.
Market Shock and Lingering Skepticism
News of the theft sent digital asset prices tumbling Friday. Bitcoin slipped more than 5 percent overnight to roughly $77,000, while other cryptocurrencies dropped as much as 9 percent, NBC News reported.
The breach also renewed broader warnings about holding funds on centralized exchanges rather than in private wallets. Legal and financial experts cautioned that exchange promises to compensate victims are not always guaranteed under user contracts. Daniel Tunkel of the law firm Edwin Coe told BBC News that customer recourse would ultimately depend on terms of service and whether the platform can face litigation for non-performance.
Binance initially stated the intrusion may have involved a compromised laptop before later acknowledging investigators had discovered additional points of breach, CBS News reported. Company officials maintain they have found no evidence that private keys were exposed, though the full technical investigation remains underway.
