Biggest-ever crypto hack impacts $6.3 billion as Binance works to contain fallout

The world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange, Binance, has suspended all deposits and withdrawals after a major security breach. The company says the incident could have affected roughly $6.3 billion in assets. It adds that about $3 billion has already been frozen with the help of industry partners.

In a statement on Friday, Binance said the suspension is a precaution while its teams carry out security checks and work with law enforcement. It also promised to compensate users for any losses and said customer funds remain safe. The exchange has given no date for resuming services. It says it will publish a detailed technical report once the investigation ends.

Preliminary findings suggest attackers took control of a DevOps engineer’s laptop and used it to reach a service container. From there they sent unauthorised withdrawal instructions. Binance says it has found no evidence that any wallet’s private keys were leaked. It has also revoked approval for addresses linked to the suspicious transfers.

Other crypto firms have joined the response. Tether’s chief executive, Paolo Ardoino, said his company froze about $1.567 billion in assets tied to the suspected attack. Circle, the issuer of the USDC stablecoin, froze more than $800 million. Binance’s co-founder Yi He said Ripple froze roughly $200 million.

Binance founder Changpeng Zhao, who no longer runs the company but remains its largest shareholder, described the incident as a hack. He said user funds must be protected and expressed hope that all losses will be covered.

The news hit the market quickly. Bitcoin fell to about $77,646, its lowest level in six weeks, and Ethereum dropped to a two-month low. Binance’s own token, BNB, lost more than 8 percent in 24 hours. The amount frozen has risen from an initial figure above $2.5 billion to around $3 billion, and the investigation into the total loss and recovery continues.