North Korean hackers stole at least $6.3 billion in cryptocurrency from Binance in what security researchers call the largest known crypto theft in history. The hackers, identified by TRM Labs and Elliptic as a North Korean cell known as TraderTraitor, gained access through a compromised Binance engineer's laptop, which allowed them to submit unauthorized withdrawal transactions, according to Binance's investigation posted on X.
About half of the stolen amount has been frozen as the crypto moved across blockchains. Binance spokesperson Andie Cooper said some $3 billion has been frozen by industry partners, and the company has begun recovering affected assets while working with law enforcement and blockchain intelligence firms to trace and recover additional funds.
Binance said it found no evidence that its private keys were compromised. The world's largest crypto exchange suspended all deposits and withdrawals while continuing its investigation. The company stated "user funds are safe" but did not immediately provide proof, saying it will publish an updated proof of reserves once remediation is complete.
The theft took about 20 minutes, according to TRM. Elliptic noted that some stolen funds ended up in the same wallet used in a previous cyberattack on Bitget earlier this year, where hackers stole $351 million. TraderTraitor was also blamed for a $1.4 billion theft from crypto exchange Bybit in 2025, making the Binance breach the group's largest heist to date.