Binance has been hit by a hack estimated at around $6.3 billion, a figure that would make it the largest cryptocurrency theft ever recorded, according to Engadget and the South China Morning Post. The exchange says it will cover all losses using its SAFU (Secure Asset Fund for Users) fund and company money, and insists user funds are safe.
Withdrawals on Binance have been suspended for what the company calls a security revamp, while deposits continue to work normally. The scale of the attack dwarfs the $1.5 billion Bybit hack from February 2025, and it has raised fresh questions about how safe large centralized exchanges really are.
How the Binance hack reportedly happened
In its own statements, Binance says its initial investigation points to a compromised DevOps engineer's laptop. That device may have allowed an attacker to reach a service container and push through unauthorized withdrawal transactions, according to the exchange.
Binance says it has worked with blockchain partners to freeze affected assets, with roughly $3 billion frozen on-chain so far. Stablecoin issuers Tether and Circle said they froze about $1.5 billion and $800 million respectively in funds tied to the attack. Former Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao welcomed the quick freezes in a post on X, saying he expects all user funds to be fully covered.
- Estimated total impact: around $6.3 billion
- Frozen on-chain so far: roughly $3 billion, per Binance
- Tether freeze: about $1.5 billion
- Circle freeze: about $800 million
