The cryptocurrency industry was shaken on Thursday when a hacker stole billions of dollars from Binance ( Binance ), the world's largest digital currency exchange. The full details of this hack are still emerging, but statements from security researchers, Elon Musk, and Binance itself are gradually clarifying the outline of the incident.
On Thursday evening, Eastern Time in the United States, Binance announced via X that a compromised developer's laptop was likely the source of this disaster. This is the largest security incident in the industry to date, and the crypto industry has been plagued by hacker attacks since its inception. The company plans to provide more detailed information on Friday. Meanwhile, several major crypto companies, including its biggest competitors, have quickly stepped in to assist Binance. The following is the current known information regarding the nature, scale of this hacker attack, and possible subsequent developments.
How was Binance hacked?
Earlier in the afternoon on Thursday, reports of a hacker attack began to appear on X. At that time, crypto observers pointed out based on public blockchain data that a large amount of funds were flowing out of wallets associated with Binance. Not long after, Binance founder Zhao Changpeng confirmed this hacker attack.
In a post on Thursday evening, Binance stated that hackers seemingly gained control of a laptop belonging to an employee or contractor. The company wrote: "Preliminary investigations indicate that this security incident may involve the intrusion into the laptop of an engineer with the username DevOps. As a result, the attackers were able to access a service container and submit unauthorized withdrawal transactions."
How much money did the hacker steal?
Reports on X once stated that the amount stolen by hackers ranged from $2 billion to $8 billion, but Binance mentioned in a post that the estimated total impact was around $6.3 billion. The situation is still evolving, and it may take a few more days to finally determine the scale of this hacker attack.
What currencies have hackers stolen?
Early reports indicated that hackers stole $1.5 billion in Bitcoin, as well as approximately the same amount in the stablecoin Tether ( Tether ), in addition to just under $1 billion in Ethereum and USDC stablecoins. It is very likely that hackers also stole various other cryptocurrencies.
Who is the mastermind behind the scenes?
So far, no one has claimed responsibility for this hacker attack, and Binance has not pointed to any specific suspect. However, security firm TRM and other organizations have stated that it is almost certain that North Korea is the mastermind behind it.
This judgment is quite credible, as the North Korean military has long utilized cryptocurrency hacking attacks to fund its operations. The complexity of this hacking attack, including the attempts to transfer the stolen funds afterward, also matches the tactics used by North Korea. However, as of now, there is still no conclusive evidence to prove that the country is responsible for this incident.
Are these funds irretrievable?
Not long after the news of the hacker attack was made public, Tether and Circle, which are responsible for minting USDT and USDC, announced that they would freeze any stablecoins related to this attack.
On the surface, this seems like good news, but other reports indicate that these efforts may only be partially effective at best. The reason is that there is evidence that hackers immediately transferred the stolen funds to the online cryptocurrency lending platform Aave and used them as collateral for Ethereum loans. This means that hackers now have the possibility of leaving with the borrowed Ethereum.
What impact has this had on the crypto market?
As expected, after the news spread, the prices of all major cryptocurrencies fell, although the declines were not sharp. As of early Friday, both Bitcoin and Ethereum had dropped by about 3%, but these declines also occurred alongside a broader sell-off in the financial markets.
A relatively mild reaction indicates that the market believes that Binance has sufficient financial strength to absorb losses while ensuring that customer assets remain unaffected.
How have various parties responded to this hacker attack?
Not long after the hacker attack was exposed, Coinbase, Tether, and the CEOs of other large cryptocurrency companies promised to provide support when Binance needed it most. In response, Binance's founder said, "Many industry friends, even competitors (including some who were not so friendly before), provided very necessary help." Zhao Changpeng also thanked Binance's current CEO, Yi Qian (Yi He), for working overnight during her pregnancy.
At the same time, some users on X expressed disbelief in the security of Binance, finding it shocking that hackers could steal billions of dollars simply by gaining access to a company laptop. As for Elon Musk, he shared a view related to artificial intelligence, stating, "Super intelligent agents will one day do this to acquire currency for themselves, not for humanity."
