Cryptocurrency giant Binance said on Thursday that $6.3bn (£4.7bn) of digital assets have been impacted by what is thought to be the biggest crypto hack on record.
The world’s biggest crypto exchange said about half of those assets had been frozen but that many remained in the hands of the hackers, adding that it will “cover all losses”.
The company said while initial checks suggested an engineer’s laptop had been compromised, allowing an attacker to make unauthorised withdrawals, “our subsequent investigation has uncovered additional points of breach”.
Two analytics firms have attributed the incident, which eclipses a record-setting $1.5bn hack on the Bybit exchange in 2025, to a North Korean hacking unit called TraderTraitor.
Cyber-security firm Check Point said the unit is also known in the industry as Lazarus Group, which has been blamed for the 2025 hack.
Check Point’s chief information security officer Jayant Dave said the losses estimated by Binance made it “the largest crypto theft on record”.
AI-powered investigations company TRM Labs said in a report that several elements of the Binance attack resemble earlier North Korean-linked incidents, including the Bybit hack.
The lab’s global head of policy Ari Redbord told the BBC the Binance hack is a “watershed moment” that is unlike anything the industry has seen.
The attacker still holds an enormous sum of stolen assets, meaning efforts to trace and recover the funds are far from over, Redbord added.
Binance, which was founded in China in 2017, allows users to trade digital assets and is estimated to have more than 300 million registered users worldwide.
The company said in 2024 that it has more than $160bn in assets under its custody.
The exchange has been subject of regulatory scrutiny around the world.
Chainalysis, a crypto analytics firm, also said it has “high confidence” that the North Korean group are linked to the hack.
For the last few years North Korea-linked operatives have focussed on attacking cryptocurrency companies for large thefts of digital tokens.
Western security agencies have previously said stolen funds are used to finance North Korea’s nuclear weapons and missile development programs.
The regime has denied any involvement in hacks in the past.
Eric Jardine, Chainalysis’ Head of Research, urged every exchange to remain vigilant as the platforms are attractive targets for hackers due to the sheer value of assets.
Binance did not directly respond to BBC questions about the incident’s potential links to North Korea but said: “We are working closely with our law enforcement partners to confirm the identity of these criminals and bring them to justice.”
The incident concerns Binance.com – while much smaller crypto platform Binance.US, which provides trading services specifically for American residents – said its platform is not affected by the issue.
