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Binance, the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange, announced it has covered 90% of the $6.3bn (£4.7bn) in assets stolen during a major cyber-attack. The company stated that sourcing the remaining 10% in the required amounts might take additional time.
Reimbursement and Platform Status
The firm has consistently promised to absorb 100% of the losses from what is believed to be the largest cryptocurrency hack in history, allocating more than $6.34bn in corporate funds for the restitution. In a statement released on Saturday, the company emphasized that users would not bear the financial impact of the theft. By Sunday, Binance reported that withdrawals had been successfully restored across several of its networks after a temporary suspension following the security breach.
To replenish the stolen funds, Binance utilized a combination of various funds and its corporate treasury. The company confirmed that all holdings of bitcoin, Ethereum, and Tether are fully covered, alongside seven other widely traded digital assets. The incident surpasses the previous record of a $1.5bn heist on the Bybit exchange in 2025.
Investigation and Attribution
The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) stated on Saturday that North Korea was responsible for the cyber-attack. According to the FBI, investigators observed hackers converting the stolen funds into Ethereum, with expectations that the assets would undergo further conversion through decentralized finance and instant swap services. Prior to the announcement, two analytics firms indicated they had intelligence pointing to the North Korean state-backed hacking unit known as the Lazarus Group or TraderTraitor. North Korea has consistently denied involvement in such attacks.
Regarding the breach mechanism, Binance’s initial findings pointed to a compromised engineer’s laptop that enabled unauthorized withdrawals, though a subsequent update revealed additional points of breach. Co-chief executive officer Richard Teng stated that multiple individuals executed the attack using advanced methods to conceal their tracks, including a self-destruct mechanism.
Asset Recovery Efforts
Collaboration with law enforcement, intelligence firms, and industry partners allowed Binance to freeze approximately $3bn of the stolen assets by Friday. The United States Secret Service reported on Friday that it is operating continuously alongside private sector partners to trace, freeze, identify, and recover the stolen funds as the investigation remains ongoing.
