Gone in 20 minutes: How the biggest heist in crypto history unfolded - The Business Standard
Hackers stole $6.3 billion from the world's largest cryptocurrency exchange, Binance, in a record digital asset theft that began in about 20 minutes.
About $6.3 billion worth of cryptocurrencies were drained from wallets that Binance uses to process transactions, according to the exchange and expert analysis of blockchain records.
Binance said in a statement on X that it initially thought the attack involved a compromised laptop, but its subsequent investigation uncovered additional points of breach.
The bulk of the heist unfolded in about 20 minutes, blockchain records show, beginning shortly after 2000 GMT on Thursday.
Once the funds were moved, the attackers raced to shift them beyond the reach of Binance counterparties and stablecoin issuers, which have frozen roughly half of the stolen assets.
How the breach occurred
According to US blockchain analytics firm TRM Labs, the attackers compromised Binance's "signing infrastructure", which authorises transactions, allowing them to issue instructions that emptied the affected wallets.
"In layman's terms, the attacker may not have stolen the vault key, they may have hijacked the system that tells the vault to release money."
Binance operates a secure asset fund for users, a $1 billion bitcoin reserve designed to protect customers in the event of a security breach.
Co-CEO Richard Teng said losses would be covered by the fund and company resources.
Suspected North Korean link
Several US blockchain analysis firms said the attack bears similarities to previous operations attributed to North Korean hackers.
TRM said the breach shared characteristics with last year's attack on crypto exchange Bybit, which the FBI attributed to North Korean hackers.
Chainalysis said funds stolen in an attack last month on Bitget were being mixed with proceeds from the Binance breach.
Teng said Binance's investigation had not yet identified the attackers, while North Korea routinely denies involvement in cyberattacks and cryptocurrency thefts.
Funds frozen and laundered
About half the stolen assets were stablecoins that have since been frozen by issuers including Tether, Circle, Ripple and World Liberty Financial, the Trump family's crypto venture.
TRM said some of the funds had already been posted as collateral to borrow ether and estimated that about $2.4 billion worth of bitcoin and ether is beyond reach.
Because no centralised entity issues bitcoin or ether, no one can freeze those assets, said Patrick Tan, general counsel of ChainArgos.
"The bitcoin and ether can be stopped only if the attacker sends them to a crypto-asset exchange or broker that is able and willing to freeze them, or if law enforcement obtains the private keys."
Market participants and analysts said the attackers would likely mix the stolen coins with other assets or use lesser-known coins and exchanges to try to move the proceeds.
Bernardo Brites, CEO of Trace Finance, a stablecoin infrastructure company, said typically the proceeds of such hacks can only be laundered in the first few hours.
"The more time passes, the less likely they will be able to fold those funds into other exchanges or payment providers — they essentially get blacklisted."
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