Binance says hot-wallet hack cost about $6.3 billion

Binance says attackers took about $6.3 billion in crypto from its hot wallets on Oct. 29, in what Reuters called the biggest crypto heist ever. The exchange says it will cover the losses and plans to begin restoring withdrawals in phases on Nov. 1.

In its report on the scale of the breach, Reuters put the estimated impact at $6.3 billion. That is more than four times the $1.5 billion stolen from crypto exchange Bybit in 2025, according to Reuters’ comparison.

How did the attackers get the funds?

Binance’s official incident update says its hot wallets were compromised at about 20:05 UTC on Oct. 29, leading to unauthorized withdrawals. Hot wallets are crypto wallets connected to the internet, which makes them easier to use for transactions.

The exchange said its initial investigation pointed to a compromised laptop, but later work found additional points of breach. Binance said it had found no evidence that wallet private keys were leaked. It has not yet published a full account of how the attack unfolded.

What does the hack mean for Binance users?

Binance says it will cover the stolen funds through its Secure Asset Fund for Users, an emergency reserve, and company funds. In its Oct. 30 update, it said it had set aside more than $6.34 billion, including $5 billion in the same types of tokens affected by the theft.

The company also said about $3 billion had been frozen on-chain, meaning the assets were blocked from moving on their networks. That does not confirm how much will ultimately be recovered. Binance said it was working with law enforcement, asset issuers and other industry partners to trace and recover funds.

Withdrawals were temporarily suspended while Binance carried out security checks. Its Nov. 1 update said it planned to restart them between 06:00 and 09:00 UTC, beginning with selected networks and assets and adding others as checks are completed. Binance said deposits remained open, and users would not bear the financial impact of the stolen funds.

References

• report on the scale of the breach — streetinsider.com
• official incident update — binance.com