Binance Hack: $6.3 Billion in Crypto Stolen in 20 Minutes
Hackers stole an estimated $6.3 billion in crypto currency from wallets associated with Binance on Oct. 29, moving the funds in a coordinated operation that took about 20 minutes, according to reports citing blockchain investigators.
The attackers transferred assets across multiple blockchain networks to wallets under their control, according to Wired. The incident prompted Binance to temporarily suspend deposits and withdrawals while the breach was investigated.
Binance said it would cover customer losses and cooperate with law enforcement and other cryptocurrency firms.
Blockchain analytics firms TRM Labs and Chainalysis identified similarities between the attack and previous operations linked to Trader Traitor, a hacking group associated with North Korea, according to reports. However, Binance and law enforcement authorities had not publicly confirmed the perpetrators.
Coordinated efforts by cryptocurrency exchanges and stablecoin issuers led to the freezing of about $3 billion in affected assets, the reports said. Recovering the remaining funds could prove more difficult because assets such as Bitcoin and Ether generally cannot be frozen by a central issuer.
Investigators are tracing transactions across blockchain networks to track the stolen crypto currency and limit further movement of the funds.
The reported scale and speed of the breach have renewed concerns about exchange security, particularly the systems used to authorize and execute high-value crypto currency transfers.
