Hackers stole $6.3 billion from Binance in a 20-minute attack

The attack on Binance, the world’s largest cryptocurrency trading platform, reportedly took just 20 minutes and resulted in the theft of $6.3 billion. For high-risk payment players, the important part is not the headline number — it’s the operational pattern: a fast-moving compromise, a temporary withdrawal freeze, and a race to contain outflows before the funds disappear.

1. The theft was described as the largest crypto robbery in history, with $6.3 billion taken, equivalent to R$ 34 billion. By comparison, the 2003 Bank of Iraq case — one of the largest bank robberies on record — took five hours and involved about six times less value than the Binance incident.
2. Binance said it temporarily suspended withdrawals for security reasons after the news spread around 22:50 on Thursday (29), Brasília time. The company also said it managed to freeze about $3 billion of the $6 billion in stolen assets.
3. An initial investigation suggested the attack began with a breach of an engineer’s laptop at the company. Later evidence pointed to a broader operation linked to hackers associated with North Korea.
4. The text notes that North Korean-linked hackers have previously targeted foreign financial institutions, including the 2016 theft of $81 million belonging to Bangladesh’s central bank and held at the U.S. Federal Reserve in New York.
5. Binance said customer funds, including Brazilian clients’ money, are safe and promised to cover all investor losses. The article also notes that it is still unclear whether artificial intelligence was used in the operation, which has intensified concerns about cybercrime in the AI era.