Binance, the world's largest cryptocurrency exchange, said a security breach had resulted in an estimated $6.3 billion impact that analysts said could amount to the biggest crypto heist ever and might make investors rethink the risks of owning digital assets. Binance said it had worked with partners to freeze the affected assets, with about $3 billion located so far. It gave no update on the status of the remaining $3.3 billion as Binance co-founder Yi He said the company would cover "all hacking losses".
An initial investigation suggested the breach may have started with a hacked laptop belonging to one of its engineers, which let an attacker gain access to one of its systems and make unauthorised withdrawals, Binance said. Markets reacted immediately in early Asian trading on Friday. Bitcoin dropped more than 3% to a six-week low of $76,368 and ether fell more than 3% to a two-month low of $2,178.
BNB, a token originally launched as Binance Coin that can be used to pay Binance fees, was down 5% over the past 24 hours at $709.70, according to market aggregator CoinGecko. To display this content from YouTube, you must enable advertisement tracking and audience measurement. One of your browser extensions seems to be blocking the video player from loading.
To watch this content, you may need to disable it on this site. Shares in crypto exchange Coinbase Global slid 4.8% while those of bitcoin buyer Strategy fell nearly 6% in extended US trading. The incident could be the world's biggest crypto heist, according to analytics firm Chainalysis and other industry experts.
"It's the biggest hack in history," said Aravind Srinivasan, head of large crypto market maker GSR's systematic OTC business. Beyond the potential loss of assets, the security breach was likely to have wider ramifications for crypto, which had already been under pressure lately due to higher US interest rates and softer demand from exchange-traded fund buyers, analysts said. "It may further dampen risk appetite and prompt investors to reassess the safety of assets held on centralised exchanges, as well as counterparty, solvency and liquidity risks," said Tim Sun, senior researcher at HashKey Group, based in Hong Kong.
Binance, which allows users to buy, sell and trade digital assets, has 335 million registered users globally and had about $162.8 billion in assets under custody as of the exchange's 2025 annual report. "User funds remain safe," Binance said in a statement. "As a precaution, all deposits and withdrawals are temporarily suspended while our security teams conduct checks, secure wallet infrastructure, and trace affected assets, with the close support of our law enforcement and industry partners." To display this content from YouTube, you must enable advertisement tracking and audience measurement.
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