$6.36 Billion Stolen From Binance In 20 Minutes, Researchers Say
TRM Labs researchers point to North Korea, while Binance freezes $3 billion in stolen funds and promises to repay affected customers.
By Connor Murphy ·
Hackers pulled billions from Binance in 20 minutes.
Researchers say the theft, which happened late in the afternoon, totaled $6.36 billion in cryptocurrency. Binance is the largest crypto exchange in the world. The money moved at internet speed, according to Ari Redbord, global head of policy at TRM Labs. "What happened last night is the largest bank robbery in human history," Redbord said. "Imagine a world where someone could walk into a bank and walk out with $6.36 billion in stolen funds and then move those funds at the speed of the internet."
Binance and researchers are still working out how the breach happened. What is known is that the intruders bypassed the exchange's security systems and reached into customer trading accounts. Those accounts belong to investment funds as well as individual investors who trade Bitcoin and other digital currencies. Binance has promised to repay any customer who lost money in the breach.
TRM Labs and other researchers point to North Korea. Redbord said North Korea has a record of cyberattacks and that this operation was carefully planned. "North Korea has built the most sophisticated cyber capabilities in the world," Redbord said. "They have a cadre, teams of professional hackers who are part of their military."
Binance is working with other exchanges and has frozen $3 billion that may have been taken from customer accounts. Cryptocurrency can be tracked the way dollar bills carry serial numbers, which lets researchers follow stolen coins as they move. The hackers are trying to shift the funds into their own accounts. Researchers are trying to stop those transfers.
Binance itself pleaded guilty in 2023 to violating anti-money laundering laws. It paid more than $4 billion in penalties. Crypto exchanges do not carry the same regulation as the New York Stock Exchange, and account holders at Binance have not been identified.
The Federal Reserve sets the benchmark interest rate at 4.25 to 4.50 percent as of Oct. 29.
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