Binance Theft Becomes Largest Crypto Hack on Record

Binance says it will cover losses from a roughly $6.3 billion cryptocurrency theft, now described as the largest recorded, and temporarily suspended deposits and withdrawals while investigating. It says customer assets are safe and has found no evidence that wallet private keys were exposed; its investigation found multiple possible breach points, and analyses indicate attackers exploited hot-wallet signing systems, potentially using Ethereum’s EIP-7702 feature to execute unauthorized transfers. Investigators attribute the attack to North Korean hackers; TRM Labs had identified the group TraderTraitor with high confidence and said the attackers prepared for at least 36 hours and moved funds across 10 blockchains. Tether, Circle and Binance say about $3 billion in affected assets has been frozen, though the figures may overlap and frozen funds are not necessarily recovered; investigators say billions have moved beyond issuers’ ability to freeze. The breach has prompted rival exchanges to review safeguards and industry leaders to call for faster threat-alert sharing, renewing scrutiny of centralized-exchange security and crypto regulation.