Binance Hit by $6.3 Billion Crypto Heist: FBI Links Attack to North Korean Hackers

One of the largest cryptocurrency thefts ever recorded has struck Binance, the world's largest cryptocurrency exchange, after attackers stole approximately $6.3 billion in digital assets from its hot wallets on October 29, 2026. The FBI has attributed the attack to North Korea-linked hacking group Trader Traitor.

According to the FBI's October 31 announcement, the attackers began converting the stolen assets primarily into Ethereum (ETH), with the intention of moving funds through decentralized finance (DeFi) platforms and instant cryptocurrency-swapping services to make tracing and recovery more difficult.

Blockchain intelligence firm Elliptic has been tracking the movement of the stolen funds across multiple networks. Its November 2 analysis identified activity involving approximately 12,000 wallets across 11 blockchains and more than 40,000 transactions. Around $2.85 billion, representing approximately 44% of the stolen assets, had been frozen or seized, while approximately $3.24 billion remained in addresses linked to the attackers.

Binance initially linked the incident to a possible compromise of a DevOps engineer's laptop, although its subsequent investigation indicated multiple points of compromise. The exchange stated that it would cover the losses using its Secure Asset Fund for Users (SAFU) and corporate funds, committing more than $6.34 billion to protect affected users.

The FBI has urged cryptocurrency exchanges, blockchain infrastructure providers and decentralized finance platforms to identify and block transactions associated with the attackers' wallet addresses. Meanwhile, investigators and blockchain intelligence firms continue to monitor the movement of the stolen assets as recovery efforts progress.