Binance hackers raced to move billions before it could be frozen

Attackers behind the largest crypto hack in history stole $6.3 billion worth of cryptocurrency from Binance. They raced to convert the stolen stablecoins like USDT and USDC, which can be frozen by token issuers, into decentralized cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin and Ether that are harder to immobilize. Industry players like Tether and Circle moved swiftly to blacklist the attacker's addresses and freeze billions of dollars in assets.

Binance reported that about $3 billion of the stolen assets were frozen onchain. Despite efforts, the hackers still control billions of dollars in stolen cryptocurrency. The attackers also moved funds through decentralized protocols such as Aave, depositing stolen USDT and borrowing wrapped Ether. However, even in these cases, the protocol could only immobilize the funds, not automatically return them to Binance or users.

Binance is working with law enforcement to recover the stolen assets and has pledged to cover any losses using its Secure Asset Fund for Users (SAFU) and company funds.