Binance freezes assets after $6.3 billion heist, crypto industry's biggest

Today, OFAC designated 10 individuals and one entity in North Korean IT worker schemes. TRM added 8 listed crypto addresses under sanctions. Obertas alone converted nearly USD 2M in crypto for DPRK officials since Jan 2025.

Read more here:https://t.co/i9jt7yYUKQpic.twitter.com/PJeTZ3kh4K— TRM Labs (@trmlabs)October 28, 2026Binance said it worked with partners to freeze the affected assets, with about $3 billion located so far. It did not mention the status of the remaining $3.3 billion, and its co-founder Yi He said the exchange would cover "all hacking losses".

Binance said its deposits were unaffected and it expects to resume withdrawal services in the next 48 hours. TRM said several features of the attack matched earlier heists linked to North Korea, including a2025 hack of crypto exchange Bybitthat ​the US Federal Bureau of Investigation had attributed to Pyongyang.

"We make this judgment with high confidence," it said in a statement. North Korea’s mission in Geneva and its embassy in China did not immediately respond to. Reuters​requests for comment.

The incident could be the world's biggest crypto heist, other industry experts. "It's the biggest hack in history," said Aravind Srinivasan, head ⁠of large crypto market maker GSR's systematic OTC business. Markets reacted immediately in Asian trading on Friday.

Bitcoin dropped more than 3 per cent to a six-week low of $76,368 and ether fell more than 3pc to a two-month low of $2,178. BNB, ​a token originally launched as Binance Coin that can be used to pay Binance fees, was down 5pc over the past 24 hours at $709.70,.

Shares in crypto exchange Coinbase Global 4.8pc while those of ​bitcoin buyer Strategy (MSTR.O), opens new tab fell nearly 6pc in extended US trading. Hacked laptop.

An initial investigation suggested the breach may have started with a hacked laptop belonging to one of its engineers, which let an attacker gain access to one of its systems and make unauthorized withdrawals, Binance said. "The incident stems from multiple factors.

Our security team is tracing the full attack path through the compromised computer, which may be the entry point of the incident," Binance said.

Beyond the potential loss of assets, the security breach was likely to have wider ramifications ​for crypto, which had already been under pressure due to higher US interest rates and softer demand from exchange-traded fund buyers, analysts said.

"It may further dampen risk appetite and prompt investors to reassess the safety of assets held on ​centralized exchanges, as well as counterparty, solvency and liquidity risks," said Tim Sun, senior researcher at Hash. Key Group, based in Hong Kong.

Binance, which allows users to buy, sell and trade digital assets, has 335 million registered users globally and had about $162.8 billion ‌in assets under ⁠custody as of the exchange's2025 annual report. "User funds remain safe," Binance said in a statement.

Binance has secure asset fund. Binance runs a secure asset fund for users, which is a reserve held entirely in bitcoin that is intended to protect user assets in cases of security breaches,.

"It's becoming very hard to counter hacks as AI can find vulnerabilities faster than you can fix them," said Bernardo Brites, CEO of Trace Finance, a payments and stablecoin infrastructure company.

"My view is that users will move away from smaller and medium-sized exchanges; it is becoming too risky to park your money somewhere that couldn't cover a hack of meaningful size. "Stablecoin issuer Tether said it had frozen nearly $1.57 ​billion in assets linked to the incident, while Circle ​froze more than $800 million.

World Liberty Financial, a crypto company ⁠linked to US President Donald. Trump and his family, said on Thursday it had worked with cryptocurrency custodian Bit. Go to freeze funds stolen in what it described as a Binance hack.

Binance's Yi said $27 million in stablecoins and about $2 million worth of World Liberty tokens had been frozen. Thanks to@worldlibertyfiteam for the $27m USD1 frozen and 48m (~$2m) WLFI frozen. Safety first: withdrawals are currently disabled until the environment is confirmed to be secure.

We appreciate the understanding and support of all our users. User funds are SAFU.— Yi He (@heyibinance)October 29, 2026Crypto firm Ripple also froze roughly $200 million in funds, Yi said. Jack ​Mc.

Donald, senior vice president of stablecoins at Ripple, said the company was closely monitoring reports of a potential exploit involving Binance and was freezing affected funds and ​coordinating with relevant parties. Incident adds to string of crypto thefts.

Miguel Morel, CEO of blockchain intelligence firm Arkham, said data indicated that billions of dollars appeared to have been hacked from Binance by an unknown actor. The incident adds to a string of crypto thefts.

Last year, attackersstole$2.9billion worth of cryptocurrency across nearly 150 attacks,. In September, cryptocurrency exchange Bitget said roughly $350 million in crypto had been stolen from its platform, underscoring the industry's vulnerability to hackers. Authorities have warned that organised crime ⁠groups are increasingly ​using cryptocurrencies to move funds across borders outside the traditional financial system.

Read more:$1.5B stolen in Bybit crypto heist, North Korean hackers blamed. Binance. US, a separate cryptocurrency exchange, said it was not affected by the ​security incident.

Coinbase said it was unaffected and was monitoring the situation. In an unrelated incident earlier on Thursday, prediction market operator Polymarket temporarilyhalted trading after a security incident involving a third-party provider. It later resumed trading and said it would fully reimburse affected traders.