North Korean hackers stole $6.3 billion from Binance, the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange, in a lightning-fast theft that an insider has called “the largest bank heist in human history.”
Cybercriminals swiped the digital coins out of Binance wallets within a mere 20 minutes starting at 4:30 p.m. ET Thursday, exploiting the system by hacking into an engineer’s laptop, according to analytics firm TRM Labs and industry insiders.
Binance initially said the security incident may have involved a compromised laptop. In an update Friday, Richard Teng, co-CEO of Binance, said the company’s security team has “uncovered additional points of breach,” suggesting it was a complex attack carried out by more than one person.
“The attacker also used a self-destruct mechanism … making it more difficult for us to trace and investigate,” Teng said, adding that Binance’s security team is still deep in the throes of the investigation.
TraderTraitor, the North Korean hacking group suspected of the crime, is known for pulling off unparalleled lootings by using algorithms to spread the riches across global crypto networks faster than any human could – making them virtually impossible to recover. US officials have said cybercrime attacks fund roughly half of North Korea’s missile program.
Binance said Friday it has started to recover some of the stolen assets. About $2.8 billion was quickly frozen by stablecoin providers – but roughly $3 billion is likely gone forever, as it was unable to be frozen, according to analytics firms.
The crypto exchange added that it’s on track to allow customers to make withdrawals within two days and that it has set over $6 billion of company funds aside to cover customers’ losses. It suspended withdrawals and vowed to cover all losses immediately after the attack.
Meanwhile, co-CEO Changpeng Zhao tried to stop Tesla and SpaceX billionaire Elon Musk from adding to the chaos online, telling him that it’s a “bad time to troll.”
Musk posted several laughing- and grimacing-face emojis on X, his social-media platform, reacting to the news. Zhao responded by reminding Musk that Binance holds a stake in his businesses worth more than $1 billion.
“Elon, have a lot of respect for you, but bad time to troll. Please stop,” Zhao wrote. “Our SPCX shares (from our $500m investment in your Twitter takeover) are worth more than a billion. Would appreciate if you show a little support. Thanks!”
Bitcoin dropped below $80,000 for the first time in a month, ether fell to a two-month low of $2,230 and crypto-related stocks plummeted as the hack served as a stunning reminder that the crypto industry still remains a largely unregulated Wild West.
The exchange is also conducting a full security review across the company, including endpoints, cloud and key management, according to Teng.
The company said there is no evidence of the hacker still having direct access to funds.
TRM Labs, the US-based blockchain intelligence firm that pinned the attack on TraderTraitor, described the cybercriminal group as North Korea’s elite hacking unit.
“We make this judgment with high confidence,” the firm said, noting that “several features of this attack match earlier North Korea-linked heists.
