Binance hack: Investigators in a 'cat and mouse game' to recover $6.3 billion in stolen funds
More than $6 billion in crypto was stolen from Binance, setting off a race to recover the funds before North Korea-linked hackers can launder them into cash.
On Thursday, hackers stole approximately $6.3 billion from Binance, marking the largest cryptocurrency theft in history. Industry partners froze around $3 billion of the affected assets, leaving customers to wait for withdrawals to resume. Binance's co-CEO Richard Teng later revealed that the breach was more complex than initially thought, with the attacker using multiple points of entry rather than a single compromised engineer's laptop.
The attack was attributed to North Korean-backed hackers by onchain investigators. Binance set aside over $6.34 billion to cover the losses, including $5 billion held in the stolen tokens. The theft has been linked to the Ethereum's EIP-7702 upgrade, which may have facilitated the theft by allowing attackers to bypass security measures.
The attacker used a "self-destruct mechanism" to remove evidence, making the investigation more challenging. Chainalysis observed thousands of rapid transactions that suggested automated laundering efforts. Binance's withdrawals were suspended, and the exchange aimed to resume them within 40 hours of the update.
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- The $6.3 billion Binance hack has been linked to North Korean hackers mashable.com
- Recap: How Binance’s record $6.3B hack unfolded cointelegraph.com
- Binance says it has reserved $6.34B+ in company funds, including $5B already held in impacted token assets, to deal with the fallout from the $6.3B hack (Rajveer Singh Pardesi/Reuters) reuters.com
- Binance hack: Investigators in a 'cat and mouse game' to recover $6.3 billion in stolen funds cnbc.com
