The Largest Crypto Heist in History: What Happened to Binance
On the evening of October 29, 2026, the world’s biggest cryptocurrency exchange became the target of the largest theft the industry has ever seen.
A Drain That Took Minutes
On October 29, an attacker moved roughly $6.36 billion out of Binance wallets spread across ten blockchains, including Ethereum, Bitcoin, Tron, Solana and Base, with most of it leaving in about 20 minutes. That makes it the biggest crypto theft on record, surpassing the $1.5 billion Bybit hack of 2025. trmlabsWikipedia
Early reports were murky. Users first noticed funds draining from the exchange’s wallets, and Binance founder Changpeng Zhao suggested on X that the company had likely been hacked. Binance’s first public line was reassuring: it told TechCrunch that user funds were safe while it temporarily suspended withdrawals on multiple networks. Early estimates of the losses were lower, at upward of $5.7 billion, and rose as the picture became clearer. Binance pauses withdrawals as hackers suspected of stealing billions in crypto +2
How Did It Happen?
The explanation has shifted as the investigation has progressed. Binance said initially that the hacker gained access through an engineer’s compromised laptop. Later, however, the exchange said further investigation had uncovered additional points of breach. Al Jazeerainc
On the technical side, Binance CEO Richard Teng said the attackers used the EIP-7702 mechanism to execute the attack on a hot wallet. Security firm Blockaid’s preliminary findings describe 50 EIP-7702 authorizations targeting a labeled Binance hot wallet, with the initial sweep occurring minutes after the delegation. The lesson security researchers draw is that an exchange can have audited contracts and strong login controls and still fall if its signing workflow approves an operation that should never reach a key. Wikipediapenligent
Who Is Behind It?
Blockchain intelligence firm TRM Labs linked the attack to the North Korean group TraderTraitor, which appears to be part of Lazarus Group. TRM also noted that the attacker’s operator wallet received small withdrawals from Tornado Cash a day before the attack, and tested the attack code on two wallets before the main operation. As of October 30, the hackers had yet to convert the stolen crypto into actual money. The attribution is by a private analytics firm and has not been confirmed by Binance or by governments. 2026 Binance hack +2
The Response
Binance suspended all deposits and withdrawals, and said about $3 billion in funds had been frozen. Stablecoin issuers moved fast: Circle froze about $800 million in Tether as it passed through its networks, while Tether froze about $1.56 billion related to the hack. These freezes show how centralized stablecoins can limit what thieves are able to cash out. Al JazeeraTechCrunch
Why It Matters
Binance is the largest centralized exchange, and trust is its core asset. As one market expert put it, a blow to confidence in a large exchange risks shocking confidence among many retail investors, which could dampen crypto prices. The attack also landed in a rough month for security. Some people had already dubbed it “Black October,” pointing to a rise in AI-powered hacks and vulnerability discoveries, a supply chain attack on LiteLLM and a critical GitLab bug. Al Jazeerainc
What Comes Next
Several questions remain open: the full scope of the losses, whether customers will be fully made whole, how fast trading resumes, and whether regulators respond with tougher custody and key-management rules. For ordinary users, the practical takeaways are old but worth repeating: don’t keep more on any single exchange than you need, use hardware wallets for long-term holdings, and watch official channels rather than social media rumors.
This is a developing story, and figures may change as the investigation continues.