Binance, the world’s biggest cryptocurrency exchange, says about $6.3 billion was stolen from its wallets on Thursday night, making it the largest crypto theft ever recorded. The exchange said on X late on October 29, 2026 that the estimated total impact sits at around $6.3 billion, and that it will cover all losses from its own funds and its emergency reserve.
The money started moving at roughly 1:20 AM Pakistan time on Friday, October 30. Most of it was gone within about 20 minutes.
One laptop opened the door
Binance said its first investigation points to a hacked laptop belonging to one of its engineers. That access let the attacker reach an internal system and push through withdrawal requests the company had not approved. Binance said no wallet keys appear to have leaked, and that it has cancelled the permissions on the affected address.
Blockchain tracking firm TRM Labs said about $6.36 billion left Binance wallets across 10 different blockchains, including Bitcoin, Solana, Tron and the XRP Ledger. TRM Labs blamed TraderTraitor, a hacking group it describes as working for the North Korean state. Chainalysis, another tracking firm, reached the same conclusion and put the loss near $6.4 billion.
The old record was the $1.5 billion stolen from the Bybit exchange in February 2025, also blamed on North Korean hackers. This theft is roughly four times that size.
Binance says it worked with other blockchain companies to freeze about $3 billion of the stolen money before it could be moved on. Bitcoin dropped around 5 percent on the news, falling below $77,000.
Withdrawals paused, deposits normal
For account holders, the practical problem is withdrawals. Binance stopped both deposits and withdrawals on Thursday night. Binance co-founder Yi He posted a service update at 9:17 AM Pakistan time on Friday saying deposits were back to normal and that the company expected to begin restarting withdrawals within 48 hours. On that timeline, withdrawals should start returning by Sunday morning Pakistan time, though Yi He did not say when the service would be fully back.
So if you cannot pull your coins out right now, that is expected. Money going in is working. Binance has also promised a full technical report once the investigation ends, and fresh proof-of-reserves figures showing what it holds against customer balances.
One warning worth repeating: big hacks are always followed by scams. Binance has told users not to trust links or messages about the incident that do not come from its official channels. Nobody from Binance will ask you to “verify” your account or move your coins to a “safe wallet” over WhatsApp or Telegram.
Why this matters in Pakistan
Pakistan is one of the largest crypto markets in the world, and Binance is the platform most Pakistanis use. PVARA Chairman Bilal bin Saqib has said 30 to 40 million people here use crypto, with trading linked to Pakistan running above $300 billion a year.
Binance is also tied into Pakistan’s official plans. PVARA, the government body that now regulates crypto, gave Binance a No Objection Certificate in December 2025 — a first step toward a full licence, not a licence itself. On the same day, the Finance Division signed an agreement with Binance to look at putting up to $2 billion of state assets on the blockchain.
That makes the laptop at the centre of this story a regulatory question too. PVARA has not issued a public statement on the hack so far. Pakistan’s full exchange licences are still being rolled out, and how a company protects staff devices and reports incidents is exactly the kind of thing a licence is supposed to test.
