World’s Largest Cryptocurrency Exchange Binance Hit by $1.7 Billion Hack

[Financial News] Claims have emerged that Binance, the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange, was hit by a hack that stole a large amount of cryptocurrency, with losses totaling $1.7 billion (about 2.2754 trillion won). Binance said it had immediately frozen the related crypto assets and that users’ funds were safe.
According to the U.S. newspaper The Wall Street Journal (WSJ), Changpeng Zhao, founder and largest shareholder of the multinational exchange Binance, said on social media platform X on the 29th (local time), “It appears that Binance has been hacked,” adding, “User funds are safe.”
He said Tether and Circle, which provide cryptocurrency stablecoin services, responded quickly and froze about $1.7 billion worth of the stolen assets. Taylor Monahan, a senior security researcher at the multinational blockchain security group SEAL 911, said, “The hackers appear to have stolen more than $2 billion, and possibly as much as $5.5 billion,” adding, “But the situation is changing rapidly, so it may take time to confirm the exact figure.”
WSJ emphasized that the $1.7 billion in losses would be the largest on record, following last year’s $1.5 billion cryptocurrency theft from the exchange Bybit by North Korea-linked hackers.
On the 30th, a Binance spokesperson announced, “We are aware of reports about a potential security issue and are investigating,” adding, “At this stage, we have not confirmed any impact on user funds, and we will share updates through our official channels as soon as new information becomes available.”
Since 2018, Binance has operated an insurance fund worth about $1 billion, known as SAFU, to protect users’ assets in extreme circumstances.
Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino said on X, “We have frozen more than $1.5 billion worth of Tether.” Circle CEO Jeremy Allaire also said, “We froze $800 million worth of coins in response to reports that a Binance vulnerability had been exploited.” Bitcoin, the leading cryptocurrency, plunged by around 4% that day, falling to $78,516 per coin, its lowest price in the past month.
[email protected] Park Jong-won Reporter