Hackers stole $6.3 billion from Binance, the world's largest cryptocurrency exchange, in a cyberattack that occurred on Thursday, Oct. 29, 2026. The exchange suspended withdrawals and said it was working with law enforcement and industry partners to trace and recover the assets. The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the U.S. Secret Service are participating in the investigation.
Security analysts from firms including TRM Labs and Chainalysis attributed the breach to "TraderTraitor," a hacking unit linked to North Korea. U.S. officials stated the group used similar tactics in a $1.5 billion theft from the Bybit exchange in 2025. Binance reported that the operation took roughly 20 minutes to complete.
Binance co-CEO Richard Teng described the event as a complex attack involving a compromised laptop and malicious software designed to delete evidence. The hackers reportedly bypassed standard approval controls to access "hot wallets"—internet-connected storage where the exchange keeps user funds. Binance stated it would use $6.34 billion of its own funds to cover user losses and that it expects to resume withdrawal services within 48 hours of the incident.
As of Friday, approximately $3 billion in assets had been frozen by various issuers. Stablecoin providers Circle and Tether froze more than $800 million and nearly $1.57 billion respectively, while Ripple and World Liberty Financial also blocked assets. However, roughly $2.4 billion of the stolen funds consisted of bitcoin and ether, which security experts noted cannot be frozen by issuers because they move on public blockchains.
The scale of the $6.3 billion loss makes this one of the largest financial heists in history, exceeding the total $2.9 billion stolen in crypto attacks during the previous year. For the broader market, the event led to a decline in prices: Bitcoin fell to a six-week low of $76,368, and Ether dropped more than 3% to a two-month low of $2,178. Analysts at HashKey Group suggested this may prompt investors to reevaluate the safety of keeping assets on centralized exchanges rather than in private wallets.
The recovery process now enters a legal phase. While stablecoin issuers can freeze tokens, the U.S. government must issue seizure warrants to transfer those funds to government accounts. Binance must then pursue civil forfeiture proceedings in court to reclaim the assets, a process that experts at Recoveris noted can take 14 months or more even for smaller amounts. For the $3.3 billion that remains unfrozen, law enforcement officials expressed concern that the funds could be used to circumvent international sanctions. Binance expected to resume withdrawal services by Sunday, Nov. 1, 2026.