About ¥100 Billion Stolen From Binance, North Korean Hacker Group "TraderTraitor" Suspected

What happened

Binance, the world's largest crypto exchange, was hacked. About $6.3 billion in digital assets was taken. Binance said attackers broke into a laptop used by one of its engineers. They may have used it to move money out without permission. Binance has stopped all deposits and withdrawals.

Key numbers

• Stolen value: about $6.36 billion, based on prices at the time of the theft (TRM Labs)
• The attack began on October 29 and most of the coins left in about 20 minutes
• The money was spread across 10 blockchains, including Ethereum, Bitcoin, and Solana
• This is about 4 times the size of the 2025 Bybit hack, which lost about $1.5 billion
• About $2.7 billion (TRM Labs) to $2.8 billion (Chainalysis) has been frozen

Who might be responsible

TraderTraitor is a hacker group linked to North Korea. The U.S. FBI said this group stole about $1.5 billion from Bybit in February 2025. TRM Labs said the attackers prepared for at least 36 hours before the attack. The way they prepared and moved funds matched past North Korea-linked attacks. Chainalysis also found that the stolen money was mixed with funds taken from the crypto exchange Bitget in September. Bitget's attack is also linked to North Korea.

Why it matters

This may be the largest crypto theft ever. If TraderTraitor is responsible, it would be the second record-breaking theft by the same group in about 20 months. The attackers quickly swapped stablecoins, which are coins tied to the U.S. dollar, for Ethereum. This made it harder to freeze the money. Still, companies and police worked together to freeze many of the assets. Binance has not yet explained the main cause of the breach.

What to watch

• Binance's full report on how the breach happened
• Whether investigators officially name TraderTraitor
• How much of the stolen money can be frozen or recovered
• Whether other exchanges tighten security for employee laptops