Binance reports major hack, freezes billions in funds
Binance, one of the largest cryptocurrency exchanges, says a security incident has cost it heavily and that it has frozen about 3 billion dollars in assets. Estimates of the total impact differ: Binance puts it at about 6.3 billion dollars, while Chainalysis estimates the amount stolen at roughly 5.9 billion dollars. Binance has temporarily suspended deposits and withdrawals and brought in law enforcement and blockchain intelligence firms. Its co-founder Yi He says the exchange will cover all losses. Bitcoin fell about 2 percent to 77,646 dollars, a six-week low, while ether and BNB also declined.
Key facts
- An initial investigation points to a compromised DevOps engineer's laptop used to submit unauthorized withdrawals.
- Former Binance chief Changpeng Zhao says total losses could be a bit higher than 1 billion dollars.
- Binance found no evidence of any wallet private key leak, according to its statement.
- The previous largest attack of this kind stole 1.5 billion dollars from Bybit in February 2025.
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Why it matters
A breach of this scale could affect crypto market prices and confidence in exchange custody of user funds.
What changed
First published from Hindustan Times, CNBC, BleepingComputer, Al Jazeera English and The Guardian