It took about 20 minutes for hackers to move billions of dollars out of Binance, the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange. Now, investigators are pointing to a group linked to another record-breaking crypto theft.
Blockchain analysis firm TRM Labs has attributed the $6.3 billion attack to TraderTraitor, a North Korean hacking unit blamed for last year’s $1.5 billion Bybit heist, with “high confidence. Chainalysis and Elliptic also linked the theft to North Korea, though Binance has not yet confirmed who was responsible.
Not only is this potentially the biggest hack of all time, it may also be the biggest heist of any kind, ever.
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The attack forced Binance to suspend withdrawals. The company says it will cover all losses and has worked with partners to freeze roughly $3 billion in affected assets, as Mashable previously reported. In total, Reuters reports that Binance has set aside approximately $6.34 billion in company funds to cover losses.
Mashable Light Speed
According to TRM, most of the stolen cryptocurrency was moved from Binance’s wallets across 10 blockchain networks in about 20 minutes. The firm said the attack shared characteristics with previous North Korea-linked thefts, including the Bybit heist.
Crypto compliance software company Elliptic said some stolen funds reached an address that had also received proceeds from a suspected North Korean attack on crypto exchange Bitget. North Korea has previously denied hacking allegations.
Binance initially said a compromised engineer’s laptop may have allowed an attacker to submit unauthorized withdrawals. Its subsequent investigation uncovered additional points of breach, and the company has promised a full report once the facts are verified.
Meanwhile, deposits have resumed, and the exchange said early Friday that withdrawals were expected to return within 48 hours.
