Cryptocurrency exchange Binance confirmed a security breach on Thursday impacting approximately $6.3bn in digital assets, in what industry analysts report could be the largest crypto heist in history. The platform suspended deposits and withdrawals while partnering with blockchain networks to freeze about half of the affected funds. Bitcoin dropped over 4% following the alerts, alongside sharp declines in Ethereum and Solana as the wider digital asset market reacted to the outflows.
Compromised Engineer Laptop Triggered Unauthorised Withdrawals
Early checks indicate the suspected hack involved an engineer’s laptop that had been compromised, allowing an attacker to access a service container and execute unauthorised withdrawal transactions. Security researchers suggested attackers may have exploited an Ethereum feature called EIP-7702 to delegate control of hot wallet permissions to an unverified contract. The malicious actor submitted 50 signed authorizations using different sequence numbers until a matching nonce processed, allowing the contract to drain approximately 167,464 ETH and 1.615 billion USDT alongside dozens of other cryptocurrencies.
Industry Platforms Freeze Billions While Binance Pledges Full Repayment
The hacker’s wallets briefly held more than $5.7 billion in stolen crypto, including nearly $1.5 billion in bitcoin and $900 million in ether, before various issuers intervened. Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino confirmed his firm froze around $1.6bn, while Circle CEO Jeremy Allaire stated his company locked more than $800m in USDC assets linked to the exploit. Binance co-CEO Yi He thanked cryptocurrency issuers for their cooperation and stated in an X post that the platform will cover all hacking losses, using company funds alongside its Secure Asset Fund for Users (SAFU) reserve, which held roughly $1 billion in bitcoin prior to the incident.
As part of our ongoing security measures, Binance Alpha trading has been temporarily suspended – CEX Buy Token/Alpha instant/CEX purchase prediction marketing using fund in spot wallet.Trading will resume once the security issue is resolved.User funds remain safe. We’ll keep… pic.twitter.com/xk9FXB9Hac
Market Impact Eclipses Prior 2025 Bybit Exchange Theft
The security incident dwarfs the previous record-setting $1.5bn hack on the Bybit exchange in 2025, which was linked to North Korea. Blockaid CEO Ido Ben-Natan told CoinDesk that the Binance breach represents the biggest crypto hack in history. Digital asset markets absorbed immediate downward pressure, with Bitcoin sliding back toward $77,000. Meanwhile, blockchain analytics firm Chainalysis updated its estimate of the stolen amount to roughly $5.9 billion at the time of the theft, as investigators and security firms such as ZachXBT pointed toward potential North Korean involvement.
Frequently Asked Questions About the Binance Security Incident
Are individual customer accounts on Binance affected by the exploit?
Hot wallets used by the exchange to process customer transactions were targeted, but Binance stated that investigators found no evidence that cryptocurrency wallet private keys had been exposed. The platform maintained that user funds remain safe under investigation, though exchange withdrawals and Binance Alpha trading stay suspended until the environment is confirmed secure.
How much money has been successfully frozen by external crypto platforms?
Tether and Circle froze a combined total of about $2.4bn in assets, with Tether locking $1.6bn and Circle freezing over $800m. Additional interventions from other blockchain partners brought the total reported frozen amount to nearly $2.6 billion.
What funds does Binance plan to use to cover user losses?
Binance co-founder Changpeng Zhao and co-CEO Yi He confirmed the company will cover all losses resulting from the attack, drawing on company funds and the Secure Asset Fund for Users reserve, which holds approximately $1 billion in bitcoin.
Arbitrum Security Council has executed a transaction to freeze ~$30.5M from the Binance Exploit. Thanks to all other signers involved. 💛
More on Secure Asset Fund for Users
Binance's initial investigation suggests that the security incident may involve a compromised DevOps engineer’s laptop, which allowed an attacker to gain access to a service container and submit unauthorized withdrawal transactions. We have found no evidence of any wallet private… pic.twitter.com/5REncAI77y
Binance will cover all losses.As a precaution, all deposits and withdrawals are temporarily suspended while our team conducts security checks, freezes funds, and works with law enforcement.We are working around the clock and will share a full post-mortem once the… pic.twitter.com/3LxFFRiomJ
**Service Update**Deposits remain unaffected and continue to operate as normal.Our team is currently working on enhancements to the withdrawal service and related address controls. We expect to begin resume withdrawal services in the next 48 hours.We will continue to share…
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