Binance Hit by Largest Financial Heist in History: $6.3 Billion Siphoned Off in 30 Minutes — Behind-the-Scenes Rescue Efforts Revealed
According to The New York Times, Binance—the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange—fell victim to its largest-ever hack on October 29. Cryptocurrency valued at $6.3 billion (approximately NT$200.6 billion) was stolen, with nearly the entire amount siphoned off in just 30 minutes. Binance urgently assembled a crisis response team of about 100 people to work through the night; among them was Co-founder and Co-CEO He Yi, who, despite being seven months pregnant, remained on the job until 3:00 a.m. Meanwhile, founder Changpeng Zhao (CZ) provided continuous updates on the social media platform X, even engaging in a public exchange with the world’s richest person, Elon Musk.
The Associated Press reported that the FBI confirmed on October 31 that the theft was carried out by the North Korean-linked hacking group “TraderTraitor”—the same group responsible for a $1.5 billion heist from the cryptocurrency exchange Bybit last year. The FBI noted that the hackers are currently converting the stolen assets into Ether (ETH) and may subsequently use other exchange services to launder the funds and obscure their origin.
Around 4:20 p.m. Eastern Time on October 29, Binance detected a series of anomalous transactions, with large sums of cryptocurrency flowing out of the company’s accounts. Senior management immediately established an ad-hoc crisis response team via an internal communication system, bringing together cryptocurrency tracking specialists and cybersecurity experts in an effort to halt the unauthorized transfers.
The team transitioned into a large-scale video conference, with roughly 100 participants appearing on screen. Employees, scattered across various locations, took turns speaking—communicating in a mix of English and Chinese. Co-CEO He Yi, seven months pregnant, participated in the emergency response throughout the night from Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, remaining on calls as late as 3:00 a.m. local time.
Simultaneously, Changpeng Zhao provided ongoing updates on X, emphasizing that user assets remained secure and that the company would cover any losses. In response, Elon Musk—questioning whether Binance could actually fulfill its promise—left an “awkward” emoji in the comments section of one of Zhao’s posts. Changpeng Zhao responded immediately: “Elon, I have a great deal of respect for you, but now is not the time for jokes—please stop.” He also reminded Musk that Binance had previously contributed $500 million toward the acquisition of Twitter, expressing a hope that Musk might offer his support in return.
According to a report by the Financial Times, the hackers began testing their approach a day before the attack. They allegedly compromised the laptop of a Binance software engineer, then leveraged the resulting system access to bypass security protocols and drain cryptocurrency from the company’s wallets. However, Co-CEO Richard Teng emphasized that the attack was far more complex than a simple breach of a single engineer’s computer, noting that the company has identified other points of compromise.
Binance worked urgently with other cryptocurrency firms to freeze assets before the hackers could move them. Stablecoin issuers Tether and Circle acted swiftly, successfully preventing some funds from leaving the ecosystem. Nevertheless, the hackers managed to convert a large portion of the stolen assets into other cryptocurrencies—which cannot be as easily frozen—before the freeze took effect. They then dispersed these funds across hundreds of wallets through thousands of individual transactions, significantly complicating efforts to track the assets.
On the 31st, Binance announced that it has set aside an equivalent amount of cryptocurrency to cover 90% of the stolen assets and has pledged to fully compensate affected customers. The company is currently rebuilding and testing its systems while conducting a comprehensive security review. Eswar Prasad, an economics professor at Cornell University, noted that this unprecedented theft has dealt a severe blow to the reputation for security and the credibility that Binance has spent years building.