A major cyberattack targeting Binance, one of the world's largest cryptocurrency exchanges, has sent shockwaves through the digital asset industry after hackers allegedly stole more than $6.3 billion in cryptocurrencies.
According to reports by Sky News and Reuters, digital assets worth approximately $6.3 billion were transferred from Binance-controlled wallets. If confirmed, the theft would become the largest known cryptocurrency heist in history.
The attack took place on 29 October and prompted an immediate response from blockchain monitoring firms, cybersecurity specialists and digital asset issuers seeking to limit losses and trace the stolen funds.
Billions moved in just 20 minutes
Data released by blockchain intelligence company TRM Labs highlights both the speed and sophistication of the operation.
According to the firm, the attackers transferred digital assets worth approximately $6.36 billion across 10 different blockchain networks, with most of the transactions completed within about 20 minutes.
TRM Labs estimates that preparations for the attack began at least 36 hours earlier, with the perpetrators carrying out test transactions before activating the mechanism used to move the funds.
Ari Redbord, TRM Labs' head of policy, told Sky News that the incident was highly unusual both because of its scale and the speed with which the assets were moved.
He said the ability to transfer billions of dollars within minutes demonstrates the significant security challenges facing the digital asset sector.
North Korea-linked group under scrutiny
According to Reuters, TRM Labs has attributed the attack to the TraderTraitor hacking group, which has been linked to North Korea and has previously been associated with major cyberattacks.
The same group was linked by the FBI to the attack on cryptocurrency platform Bybit in February 2025, during which approximately $1.5 billion worth of digital assets were stolen.
The latest theft is more than four times larger, underlining the growing scale of operations attributed to organised cybercriminal groups.
TRM Labs said it has a high degree of confidence in its attribution based on blockchain analysis and additional security intelligence. However, the identity of the perpetrators has not been independently confirmed by authorities.
Billions frozen, but hackers still control $2.4 billion
Efforts to limit the damage began almost immediately.
According to TRM Labs, companies including Tether, Circle, Ripple and World Liberty Financial, working alongside other organisations, helped freeze digital assets worth approximately $2.7 billion.
Despite those actions, the attackers reportedly still control more than 420,000 Ether and 18,270 Bitcoin, with a combined estimated value of around $2.4 billion.
Security experts caution that freezing digital assets does not automatically mean they will be returned to their lawful owners, as the recovery process is often highly complex and legally challenging.
Binance promises to cover customer losses
Binance said it is urgently investigating the incident and temporarily suspended deposits and withdrawals while security reviews are carried out.
The company stated that customer funds remain safe and pledged to cover losses linked to the cyberattack.
According to the Associated Press, preliminary findings from Binance's internal investigation point to a possible compromise of a company engineer's laptop, which may have provided access to technical infrastructure used for transaction processing.
Binance said there is currently no evidence that the private keys controlling its digital wallets were exposed.
The company stressed that these conclusions remain preliminary and do not yet constitute a final explanation of how the attack occurred.
Markets shaken as Bitcoin falls
News of the breach sent tremors through cryptocurrency markets.
According to Sky News, Bitcoin was trading near $77,000 in the early hours of Friday, 30 October, after losing roughly 5% of its value over a 24-hour period.
Several smaller cryptocurrencies recorded even steeper losses.
Meanwhile, The National reported that more than $1.5 billion in leveraged positions were liquidated in a single day as anxiety spread throughout the wider crypto market.
Could the impact spread to banks?
The incident has also renewed debate about potential spillover risks to the traditional financial system as links between cryptocurrency firms, banks and investment institutions continue to grow.
Speaking to Sky News, Isabella Kaminska, editor of financial publication The Blind Spot and a former Financial Times journalist, said major cryptocurrency platforms increasingly display some of the same risk-concentration characteristics found in traditional banking.
She noted that investors in digital assets do not necessarily enjoy protections comparable to bank deposit guarantee schemes and warned that growing interconnectedness between cryptocurrency and traditional financial markets may create new channels through which financial shocks could spread.
For now, the full financial impact of the attack remains unclear, as does whether efforts to trace and freeze the stolen assets will ultimately result in their recovery.
