If you keep crypto on Binance, Thursday was nerve-wracking. The world's largest crypto exchange confirmed a security incident after users noticed money being drained from its hot wallets, the ones that stay connected to the internet so trades and withdrawals can happen quickly. Binance then paused withdrawals across multiple networks.
How much is gone? Nobody has a final number yet. Crypto watchers first said at least $2 billion had been taken, and later estimates climbed past $6 billion, with some outlets now putting it around $6.3 billion. Even the low end would be a record. The previous biggest crypto hack was the 2025 Bybit theft of about $1.4 billion, which was blamed on North Korean hackers, and some reports say North Korea is suspected again this time.
Funnily enough, the first public hint came from Binance's founder. Changpeng Zhao, who no longer runs the company but remains its largest shareholder, posted on X that Binance had likely been hacked hours before the news broke widely. He said he expects user funds to be "fully covered", though he didn't explain how.
Binance's co-CEO Richard Teng has since gone further. He says the company will cover every loss and make users whole, using its emergency Secure Asset Fund and its own money. He also says there's no evidence the private keys to its wallets were stolen. An early look suggests the attack may have started with a hacked laptop belonging to a DevOps engineer. Binance hopes to start reopening withdrawals within 48 hours.
Stablecoin companies jumped in fast. Tether froze about $1.56 billion linked to the hack, and Circle froze roughly $800 million. Bitcoin still slid more than 4% to around $77,400 early Friday.
So here's the uncomfortable question: if even the biggest exchange can get hit like this, is keeping your coins on any exchange ever really safe?
