Sam Adah, Abuja
The world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange has been hit by a record $6.3bn (£4.7bn) hack described as the biggest heist in history, with experts identifying North Korea as the likely culprit.
Binance said it would cover all customer losses as it froze $3bn of the affected assets.
Analysts said the exchange had been subjected to an unprecedented attack with “never-seen-before” laundering patterns as the hackers made off with assets worth billions of dollars.
Researchers said the theft was the biggest ever, dwarfing a $1.5bn crypto raid last year and the $1bn taken from Iraq’s central bank by Saddam Hussein in 2003. “This is almost certainly the largest theft of any kind in history,” said Tom Robinson, chief scientist at crypto consultancy Elliptic.
Experts attributed the attack, which happened late on Thursday, to North Korean state-backed hackers. North Korea has a history of crypto hacking and was behind the theft of about $1.5bn in virtual assets from a Dubai-based cryptocurrency exchange last year, according to the FBI, in the previous record crypto heist.
TRM, a crypto analysis firm, blamed the attack with “high confidence” on TraderTraitor, North Korea’s elite hacking unit, as did Elliptic and another research outfit, Chainalysis.
Richard Teng, a co-chief executive of Binance, said: “Bottom line – your money is safe, and we’re covering every loss.” Teng said Binance had set aside $6.34bn to cover stolen assets.
The company said: “As a precaution, all deposits and withdrawals are temporarily suspended while our security teams conduct checks, secure wallet infrastructure and trace affected assets, with the close support of our law enforcement and industry partners.”
North Korea, a state hampered by sanctions and starved for cash, has become a prolific hacker of crypto, an asset it favours because it can be stolen in bulk and laundered. The regime has stolen more than $6.5bn in crypto assets in recent years, including more than $1bn so far in 2026, according to Elliptic.
Binance is working on the aftermath of the hack with law enforcement around the world, including the FBI and the US Secret Service.
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