Hackers steal $6.3 billion from Binance in record crypto heist

Binance scrambles to freeze billions after record-breaking hack linked to North Korea. Binance has suspended all withdrawals after the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange fell victim to what appears to be the biggest heist in history. The exchange put the “estimated total impact” of the hack at about $6.3 billion and said around $3 billion of affected assets, mainly stablecoins that act as cash for the crypto market, had been frozen. But analysts at Elliptic said the attacker had changed about $3.3 billion into digital assets that could not be frozen and was working to cash those out as traditional currency.

An “initial investigation” suggested hackers had been able to compromise an engineer’s laptop and withdraw funds from the platform, Binance said, adding on Friday morning that further investigation “has uncovered additional points of breach.” The company is working with law enforcement. Blockchain intelligence firm TRM Labs linked the hack with a North Korean unit known as TraderTraitor, saying that the sums involved would make it “the largest crypto theft on