Binance, the world's largest cryptocurrency exchange, has recovered 90% of the $6.3 billion (£4.7 billion) stolen in a massive hack on Thursday. The remaining 10% may take longer to source, the company said in a statement on Saturday. Binance has pledged to cover all losses from what is suspected to be the biggest hack in crypto history, setting aside over $6.34 billion in company funds to do so. The exchange emphasized that users will not bear the financial impact of the stolen funds.
The hack affected holdings of bitcoin, ethereum, Tether, and seven other widely-traded crypto assets. Binance aims to resume withdrawal services for users on Sunday, November 1, pending further updates. The hack surpassed the previous record of a $1.5 billion heist on the Bybit exchange in 2025. Initial investigations suggested an engineer's compromised laptop allowed unauthorized withdrawals, but later updates revealed additional breach points.
Richard Teng, Binance's co-CEO, stated that the hack involved multiple individuals using sophisticated methods, including a self-destruct mechanism to hide their tracks. On Friday, Binance froze around $3 billion of stolen assets with the help of law enforcement and intelligence firms. The US Secret Service is working to identify, freeze, trace, and recover the stolen funds. Two blockchain analytics firms have linked the attack to North Korea's state-backed group, The Lazarus Group, also known as TraderTraitor.
The FBI previously attributed the $1.5 billion Bybit exchange theft last year to North Korea, though the country has consistently denied involvement. Binance, founded in China in 2017, serves hundreds of millions of users worldwide, facilitating the buying, selling, and trading of digital assets.