Hackers steal $6.3bn from crypto giant Binance in the biggest heist in history after ONE engineer's laptop is compromised

Binance said the attack originated from a compromised engineer's laptop, which gave the hacker access to a service container and allowed unauthorised withdrawals totalling an estimated $6.3bn. The exchange has halted all deposits and withdrawals pending cooperation with law enforcement, blockchain intelligence firms and stablecoin issuers in efforts to trace the stolen assets. Binance has promised to cover all losses and says around $3bn has already been frozen.

Bitcoin fell to a six-week low of $77,646 and BNB dropped more than 8% as markets reacted to the news.

Tether froze more than $1.5bn and Circle over $800m in stablecoin assets connected to the breach, while Trump's crypto venture World Liberty Financial also froze $27m.

The theft surpasses the previous record — a $1.5bn hack on rival exchange Bybit in 2025 that was linked to North Korea.