Binance suffers $6 billion hack, largest in crypto history
Attackers drained approximately $6 billion from Binance hot wallets, triggering emergency freezes by Tether and Circle. The incident marks the largest cryptocurrency theft on record and has raised questions about centralized exchange security.
Binance confirmed that attackers stole approximately $6 billion in tokens from its hot wallets on Thursday evening, marking the largest cryptocurrency hack in history. The intruders drained three aggregate wallets, sweeping assets including Bitcoin, Ethereum, and long-tail tokens such as Worldcoin, Pepe, and Athena. In response, Tether and Circle rapidly froze roughly one-third of the stolen stablecoins to prevent further transfer. Tether froze $1.8 billion in USDT and USDC, while Circle froze $800 million in USDC. Before the freezes took effect, approximately $300 million to $350 million in USDT was swapped to Ethereum, causing significant price dislocations across chains. Ethereum traded at $2,800 on the mainnet compared to $2,200 on other chains. Aave also froze its V4 markets after hackers deposited stolen Ethereum to take out loans. Binance suspended withdrawals for 48 hours to conduct a forensic investigation. CEO Changpeng Zhao stated that user funds are safe and that the company will cover the loss using its SAFU fund. Security researchers attributed the sophisticated attack to North Korea. The incident has sparked renewed debate on self-custody versus centralized exchange security, with some analysts noting that the rapid response by stablecoin issuers mitigated potential systemic damage despite the severity of the breach.