The hackers behind the raid had alleged ties to the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK), according to US blockchain analysis firms TRM Labs and Chainalysis.
The attackers targeted Binance wallets on 10 blockchains and shifted most of the funds in about 20 minutes, TRM Labs said in a statement.
Binance said it worked with partners to freeze the affected assets with about US$3 billion located so far.
It did not mention the status of the remaining US$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 the DPRK, including a 2025 hack of crypto exchange Bybit that the US Federal Bureau of Investigation had attributed to Pyongyang.
“We make this judgement with high confidence,” it said in a statement.
The DPRK’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, according to analytics firm Chainalysis and 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 three percent to a six-week low of US$76,368 and ether fell more than three percent to a two-month low of US$2,178.
BNB, a token originally launched as Binance Coin that can be used to pay Binance fees, was down five percent over the past 24 hours at US$709.70, according to market aggregator CoinGecko.
Shares in crypto exchange Coinbase Global slid 4.8 percent while those of bitcoin buyer Strategy fell nearly six percent in extended US trading.
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 unauthorised 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 centralised exchanges, as well as counterparty, solvency and liquidity risks,” said Tim Sun, senior researcher at HashKey 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 US$162.8 billion in assets under custody as of the exchange’s 2025 annual report.
“User funds remain safe,” Binance said in a statement.
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, according to its website.
“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 US$1.57 billion in assets linked to the incident, while Circle froze more than US$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 BitGo to freeze funds stolen in what it described as a Binance hack.
Binance’s Yi said US$27 million in stablecoins and about US$2 million worth of World Liberty tokens had been frozen.
Crypto firm Ripple also froze roughly US$200 million in funds, Yi said.
Jack McDonald, 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.
The incident adds to a string of crypto thefts.
Last year, attackers stole US$2.9 billion worth of cryptocurrency across nearly 150 attacks, according to researchers at TRM Labs.
In September, cryptocurrency exchange Bitget said roughly US$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.
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. (Reuters)
