BTC news: Binance hacker took over 18,270 bitcoin that no one can freeze - CoinDesk
An attacker stole 18,270 bitcoin worth $1.4 billion from Binance and divided it among 19 wallets that cannot be frozen, with deposits and withdrawals remaining suspended.
The attacker who drained Binance late on Thursday broke the 18,270 stolen bitcoin into 19 separate piles within minutes, then left them untouched. The transactions were confirmed in block 973,732, with the coins moving through a so-called peel chain where each transaction carved 1,000 BTC into fresh addresses.
Seventeen wallets now hold exactly 1,000 BTC each, one holds 832.5 BTC and another holds 437.7 BTC. As of early Friday, none of the 19 wallets had sent any coins onward, though some spam transactions with tiny dollar amounts have been sent to them.
North Korean hackers suspected
TRM Labs attributed the theft to TraderTraitor, North Korea's elite hacking unit, with 'high confidence.' This comes after the same unit was linked to the $1.5 billion Bybit theft in February 2025, when they spent about 10 days converting stolen ether into bitcoin.
Exchange suspends operations
Binance has put the total damage from the attack at $6.3 billion and pledged to cover all losses. Deposits and withdrawals remain suspended as the exchange works to resolve the security breach. Unlike stablecoins which can be blacklisted by their issuers, bitcoin has no central authority to freeze stolen coins once they're moved to personal wallets.
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