Overview
- Hackers stole an estimated $6.3 billion from Binance in a breach that began Thursday evening, making it the largest single crypto theft reported to date.
- Binance says blockchain partners have frozen roughly $3 billion of the stolen coins so they cannot be moved and that withdrawals are paused with a planned resumption within about 48 hours.
- The company has pledged to reimburse all affected users and set aside more than $6.3 billion of its own assets, including about $5 billion held in the same tokens taken in the attack.
- Early internal findings point to a compromised laptop belonging to a technical employee as one entry path but Binance now says investigators are examining other breach points while working with law enforcement and forensic firms.
- The incident underscores the custodial risks of centralized exchanges, has driven short-term market swings, and raises fresh questions for regulators in Europe where Binance wound down local operations in 2023.