Why it’s hard to recover the $6.3 billion hackers stole from Binance

A major theft under investigation

Binance said Friday it was pursuing ways to recover more than $6 billion in stolen assets. Experts said the work requires tracking the funds and coordinating with law enforcement.

The exchange said it would use available means to identify those responsible and hold them accountable. Its initial investigation pointed to a possibly compromised laptop, while a later probe found additional points of breach.

Ari Redbord, a former federal prosecutor and policy head at TRM Labs, described the theft as the largest bank robbery in human history. Blockchain intelligence firms said the $6.3 billion hack was likely the work of North Korea.

Frozen tokens offer a route

Stablecoin issuers can block transfers of their tokens worldwide, which can help speed up recovery. A Binance spokesperson told CBS News that $3 billion in crypto assets had been frozen.

Redbord said Bitcoin and ether cannot be frozen because they move on public blockchains. He said the ability to freeze funds is specific to certain stablecoin issuers.

Recovery remains uncertain

Roman Bieda, chief intelligence officer at Swiss blockchain intelligence company Recoveris, warned that unrecovered Binance funds could support illicit transactions with countries such as Russia. The process is unpredictable, Bieda said in an email, and requires close coordination among law enforcement, crypto issuers and other stakeholders. Finding where the money went is only part of the challenge. In 2025, TraderTraitor also targeted crypto exchange Bybit in an attack that caused a $1.5 billion loss, according to the FBI.