Binance Hit by Record $6.3 Billion Crypto Theft; North Korea's TraderTraitor Blamed

Binance suffered an estimated $6.36 billion crypto asset theft, with U.S. blockchain analytics firm TRM Labs attributing the attack to North Korean elite hacking group TraderTraitor and calling it "the largest cryptocurrency theft on record." The breach pressured bitcoin below $77,000, its first dip under that level in over a month, before recovering above $78,000; ether touched a two-month low of $2,178 and Binance's BNB token also weakened. TRM Labs said attackers moved roughly $6.36 billion from Binance wallets across 10 blockchains, most of it within about 20 minutes, citing "strong on-chain and off-chain intelligence" for its "high confidence" attribution. It noted similarities to past North Korea-linked incidents, including last year's $1.5 billion Bybit hack. Binance co-CEO Richard Teng said initial investigations suggest hackers gained access through a compromised DevOps engineer's laptop, stressing the "sophisticated attack" was not a "click-and-done" operation. He assured customers: "Your funds are safe; all losses are borne by us." Velo Data CEO Fredrick Collins said the hack is "weighing on prices," eroding confidence in the sector.