The world's largest cryptocurrency exchange, Binance, has suffered a hacking incident estimated at approximately 8.4 trillion won ($6.3 billion), prompting domestic exchanges to issue withdrawal alerts. To prevent further losses, Binance has temporarily suspended all deposits and withdrawals and is tracking the stolen assets.
According to the cryptocurrency industry on October 30, Binance announced on its official website that it estimates the theft of virtual assets to be around $6.3 billion (approximately 8.4 trillion won). This amount exceeds four times the $1.5 billion stolen in the Bybit hacking incident last February, marking the largest loss in the history of the cryptocurrency sector.
The incident is believed to have started when a laptop belonging to a Binance DevOps engineer was hacked. It is suspected that the attacker gained access to the service system and executed unauthorized withdrawal transactions. However, Binance stated that there is currently no evidence that the private keys of cryptocurrency wallets have been compromised.
Immediately following the incident, Binance suspended all deposits and withdrawals and began a security review. In collaboration with blockchain industry partners, approximately $3 billion (around 4 trillion won) worth of assets have been frozen, and the company is working with law enforcement and analysis firms to track the remaining stolen assets.
Domestic exchanges have also taken user protection measures. Upbit issued a warning at 7:46 a.m. regarding Binance's security incident and urged users to exercise caution with withdrawals. The exchange stated it would limit withdrawals to Binance if necessary and respond to requests for asset freezes. Following this, Bithumb, Coinone, and DigitalX also posted withdrawal alerts.
Binance plans to fully compensate users for losses incurred due to the incident using its Secure Asset Fund for Users (SAFU) and its own funds. Once security measures are completed, the company will also release a new proof of reserves (PoR).
* This article has been translated by AI.
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