Overview
- Blockchain monitors flagged high‑frequency transfers from Binance hot wallets on Thursday, prompting the exchange to suspend withdrawals and alert users.
- Binance now estimates roughly $6.3 billion moved from hot wallets and says it will use its SAFU reserve and corporate funds to cover any remaining losses.
- The company’s preliminary probe points to a compromised DevOps engineer laptop and other breach points that let attackers submit unauthorized withdrawal transactions.
- Stablecoin issuers Tether and Circle froze large sums—roughly $1.57 billion in USDT and more than $800 million in USDC—helping to immobilize about $2.5–$3.0 billion on‑chain; bitcoin and ether cannot be directly frozen and require tracing.
- TRM Labs has attributed the operation to a North Korea‑linked group called TraderTraitor, a finding Binance has not confirmed, and markets fell sharply as the industry and law enforcement work to track and recover funds.