New York (TIP): Hackers have made off with an estimated $6.3 billion in a suspected cyber heist targeting Binance, the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange, according to The Wall Street Journal (WSJ). The incident could rank as the biggest-ever cryptocurrency theft, raising fresh questions about the safety of funds held on digital asset exchanges.
Binance, however, has described the figure as the estimated financial impact of the security incident and has not explicitly confirmed that $6.3 billion was stolen. In an official update published on October 30, the exchange said the estimated total impact was around $6.3 billion, while approximately $3 billion of the affected assets had been frozen on-chain.
Blockchain analytics firm Chainalysis separately confirmed that at least $5.912 billion had been stolen as of 8:30 pm ET on Thursday. The remaining affected assets are yet to be fully accounted for.
Binance has assured customers that their money is safe and said it will cover all losses using its Secure Asset Fund for Users (SAFU) and company funds. However, it has temporarily suspended deposits and withdrawals while it investigates the incident, secures its wallet infrastructure and works with law enforcement and blockchain intelligence partners.
The incident has already unsettled cryptocurrency markets. Bitcoin fell more than 3% to a six-week low of $76,368, while ether declined more than 3% to a two-month low of $2,178 in early Asian trading on Friday. BNB, the token originally launched by Binance, was down 5% over the previous 24 hours at $709.70, according to CoinGecko.
Shares of cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase fell 4.8%, while those of bitcoin-buying company Strategy dropped nearly 6% in extended US trading.
The scale of the suspected heist has become clearer as Binance, blockchain investigators and cryptocurrency companies track the movement of the affected assets.
In its security incident update published on October 30, Binance said: “The estimated total impact sits at around $6.3B. We have worked with blockchain partners to freeze affected assets, with ~$3 billion frozen on-chain so far.”
The exchange has not provided a detailed breakdown of the remaining affected assets or an update on their status.
Chainalysis, meanwhile, confirmed that at least $5.912 billion had been stolen as of 8:30 pm ET on Thursday. The funds had moved across several blockchain networks, including Bitcoin, Ethereum, Tron, Ripple and multiple Layer 2 networks.
Eric Jardine, head of research at Chainalysis, told Reuters that the investigation was still under way and the firm could not yet confirm the cause of the hack.
“The investigation is ongoing, and we cannot yet confirm the cause of the hack. As of 8:30 p.m. ET (0030 GMT), we have confirmed that at least $5.912 billion was stolen, with funds moving across multiple blockchains, including Bitcoin, Ethereum, Tron, Ripple and several Layer 2 networks,” Jardine said.
He added that around $3 billion had been frozen.
“Blockchain transparency and coordination across the industry are helping disrupt the movement of stolen funds. Our investigators are actively identifying additional opportunities to freeze funds and support recovery efforts,” Jardine told Reuters.
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