How Binance’s 6.3 billion hack unfolded, what investigators know and what comes next

Binance confirms major theft

Binance is investigating a hack after cryptocurrency funds moved to a newly created external wallet. Early reports cited transfers exceeding $2 billion, while later estimates of the total amount leaving Binance differed.

The exchange put the estimated impact at about $6.3 billion. It said the incident may have involved an employee’s compromised laptop, which could have given the attacker internal access.

Binance said it found no evidence that wallet private keys had been exposed. It plans to publish a technical post-mortem after completing its investigation and verifying the facts.

Transfer estimates vary

A user first noticed more than $2.7 billion moving from a Binance wallet, including Ethereum and stablecoins from Tether and Circle Internet Group. A Coinbase director and Kairos Research later estimated that $5.8 billion had left Binance across Ethereum, Bitcoin and Tron.

The different figures reflect estimates reported at different points in the investigation. Binance’s current estimate of the total impact is $6.3 billion.

Assets frozen as tracing continues

Tether’s chief technology officer said the company froze more than $1.5 billion in cryptocurrency. Circle said it froze over $800 million while coordinating with law enforcement. Binance reported that $2.54 billion had been frozen, while its earlier statement said about $3 billion had been frozen on-chain. The exchange said the amount could rise as its teams work with law enforcement, issuers, blockchain intelligence firms and industry partners.

Binance says it will cover losses

Binance said it would cover the losses using company funds, including its emergency SAFU funds. The reported scale of the theft makes it the largest cryptocurrency heist in history. The investigation is ongoing, and Binance said it would share more technical details once the findings are verified.