Cryptocurrency exchange Binance announced it is working to recover roughly $6.3bn (£4.7bn) in digital assets following a massive security breach widely suspected to be a record-breaking crypto heist.
Co-CEO Richard Teng stated that the platform has successfully frozen or secured about half of the stolen funds, totaling approximately $3bn. Investigators revealed that the complex attack—which analytics firms and experts have linked to North Korean state-backed hackers—involved a self-destruct mechanism designed to destroy tooling and traces as unauthorized withdrawals were executed. Binance initially pointed to a compromised DevOps engineer's laptop, though subsequent investigations uncovered a broader breach spanning multiple access points.
The incident surpasses the previous record $1.5bn heist on the Bybit exchange in 2025. Law enforcement agencies, including the US Secret Service and the FBI, are collaborating globally to trace and freeze the remaining funds. Meanwhile, Binance has assured users that their accounts and money remain safe, stating that the company has set aside funds to cover all losses and is actively purchasing crypto tokens to offset the deficit.
