Binance hack: $6.3 billion stolen, half recovered; North Korean group suspected

Binance, the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange, confirmed that $6.3 billion in cryptocurrency was stolen in a hack on October 29, 2026, marking the largest heist in crypto history. The company announced it has frozen approximately $3 billion of the stolen digital assets, securing a significant portion of the funds.Binance has reassured its users that their money is safe and that the company will cover all losses. While initial investigations suggested the hack might have originated from a compromised engineer’s laptop, the company later stated the attack was more extensive. Richard Teng, Binance’s co-chief executive, noted that the hackers utilized a “self-destruct mechanism” to destroy tools and traces, complicating the investigation.North Korean group suspectedSeveral analytics firms, including Chainalysis and TRM Labs, have expressed high confidence that the hack is linked to a North Korean hacking unit known as ‘TraderTraitor’ or ‘Lazarus Group’. This suspicion is reinforced by a similar $1.5 billion hack on the Bybit exchange in February 2025, which was also attributed to a North Korean unit. North Korea, an impoverished nation facing heavy international sanctions, is believed to use cybercrime as a means to generate revenue, a claim Pyongyang has consistently denied.The US Secret Service, America’s lead federal agency for investigating financial crimes, and the FBI, the US Federal Bureau of Investigation, are collaborating with Binance to identify, freeze, trace, and recover the stolen funds, and to bring the cybercriminals to justice. Meanwhile, a spokesperson for North Korea’s foreign ministry stated that sanctions would not affect its status as a nuclear weapons state. North Korea has been under UN Security Council resolutions since 2006, aimed at curbing its nuclear weapons and ballistic missile programs.Market impact and regulatory callsNews of the Binance hack sent shockwaves through the cryptocurrency market. On October 29, Bitcoin’s price dropped by 5% to $76,469.82, reaching a six-week low. Coinbase shares fell by 12%, and Robinhood, a financial services company that trades in cryptocurrency, saw a 7.8% decline.Michael Selig, chairman of the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), stated that the Binance hack underscores the urgent need for cryptocurrency market regulations. He emphasized that the crypto apparatus lacks the same safeguards present in traditional US markets, arguing that funds can move much faster on the blockchain. Selig expressed his agency’s desire to enable exchanges to register with the CFTC, which he believes would help mitigate future incidents. The CFTC had previously filed a lawsuit against Binance and its former chief executive Changpeng Zhao in 2023 under the Biden Administration, alleging breaches of trading and derivatives laws. Binance pleaded guilty to violating US anti-money laundering rules on November 21, 2023, and paid a $4.3 billion fine.Binance’s response and future stepsBinance has allocated over $6.34 billion from its Secure Asset Fund for Users (SAFU) and company funds to cover the stolen assets and is actively purchasing various crypto tokens. The company plans to gradually resume withdrawal services within approximately 34 hours, starting October 30, 2026, after completing security checks. Binance also intends to release a detailed technical post-mortem once its investigation is complete and facts are fully verified. Additionally, an updated ‘Proof of Reserves’ will be published after security enhancement work is finalized.For more details on our earlier coverage, please see: विश्वकै ठूलो क्रिप्टो एक्सचेन्ज बिनान्सबाट ५.६ अर्ब डलर चोरी