Security crisis at the world's largest crypto exchange
The world's largest cryptocurrency exchange Binance confirmed the cyber‑security incident that affected about $6.3 billion of its assets. In its initial statement, the company said that $2.54 billion of assets had been frozen, and in a subsequent update it reported that the amount had risen to roughly $3 billion.
Binance temporarily halted deposits and withdrawals as a precaution following the security issue identified on October 29. The company said that users' assets are safe and that it would cover all losses arising from the incident.
According to Binance's update dated October 30, early investigations suggest the attack may have been carried out from a compromised computer of a DevOps engineer. It is assessed that the attacker accessed a service system in this way and performed unauthorized withdrawals. The company said no evidence of wallet private keys being leaked was found.
Tether and Circle also froze their assets.
Binance announced in its initial statement that the confirmed amount of frozen assets was $2.54 billion. The company said that, following work with law enforcement, blockchain‑analysis firms and other industry partners, the figure had risen to about $3 billion.
Tether and Circle also froze assets linked to the attack. It was reported that Tether blocked more than $1.5 billion, while Circle blocked about $823 million.
Binance co‑founder Changpeng Zhao said the incident appeared to be a cyberattack and that users' assets would be compensated. The company announced it would release a comprehensive report with technical details once the investigation was complete.
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