Crypto Exchange Binance Hacked, $40M+ Stolen in Bitcoin

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sknight

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This is a pretty high-profile heist, as heists come, since Binance is actually the world's biggest crypto exxchange in terms of traded volume. The act was reported by Binance as a well-conducted orchestra, with hackers using seemingly unconnected accounts at the most opportune time to achieve a single, high-value withdrawal of $41M (roughly 7,000 Bitcoin at current pricing) - only 2% of Binance's total value in their so-called "hot wallet".

The hackers also took away with several information on users' accounts: a large number of user API keys, 2FA codes, and "potentially other info" were taken besides the cool $41M in Bitcoin. Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao warned that the hackers could still be controlling enough relevant accounts that could allow them to influence pricing and make even more money.
 
WHAT THE FVCK! Well there goes any defense of crypto I ever had. Do you have a link?
 
330908d1374953128-funny-pic-gif-thread-stupid-comments-grumpy-cat-good-n83ety.jpg
 
motqalden said:
Because an exchange was hacked?
Don't keep your coins on exchange. And and alk sites can be hacked. Doesn't matter if crypto or not
Click to expand...

So if you keep them on your own gear, that can't be hacked?
 
Sycraft said:
So if you keep them on your own gear, that can't be hacked?
Click to expand...

If you keep them on your own gear then that doesn't create a honeypot that every crook on the planet wants to get into. Also the only way the crook would know that the coins are on your box is if you broadcast that to the world or run some really unsecured shit... whereas the crooks know that the exchange has tons of coin.
 
1. If my own shit gets hacked at least i have only myself to blame
2. I'm a much smaller target and why would you even know to look for me
3. good luck hacking a paper wallet or an offline computer. even if you break in and steal it from my house you will need my PW to get the funds
 
pillagenburn said:
If you keep them on your own gear then that doesn't create a honeypot that every crook on the planet wants to get into. Also the only way the crook would know that the coins are on your box is if you broadcast that to the world or run some really unsecured shit... whereas the crooks know that the exchange has tons of coin.
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Ya because nobody writes malware that goes around trying to do things like steal crypto coins... The problem with the "just keep it on your computer" argument is this would be the same argument as "just keep cash in your house." Can you do it safely? Sure, it is possible to do a good job securing your personal devices, just like it is possible to have good physical security for cash. The problem is that you probably don't. Most people are not very good at computer security. It is complex, ever evolving, and can be a pain in the butt. So most people just ignore it and/or lie to themselves that they are doing a good job.

So really it doesn't solve anything, except for allowing crypto evangelists to shift blame and say "Well it was your own fault!" when shit goes down.

Thing is: Banks have solutions to this. Not only do they tend to have WAAAAAY better security than crypto exchanges, but they have contingency plans to deal with it. Transactions are traceable, logged, and can be reversed, they have insurance, etc. While that doesn't mean your money is 100%, can never be stolen EVAR, safe in a bank it is pretty damn safe, particularly compared to trying to keep it yourself.
 
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Alright you have make some good points. So we know that even banks get robbed right? All that this proves is that the exchange was doing the right thing in terms of having a slush fund to cover this . You can't prevent all hacks, but if you have money to cover things like this and take responsibility then really this only speaks to the exchange in a good light.
 
motqalden said:
So we know that even banks get robbed right?
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LOL. Banks are insured. And even if they weren't, the people that rob them (while mostly on the stupid side) have serious balls to risk decades in prison to make some cash. With crypto, any snot nosed anonymous kid from anywhere (ok, 95% China, 5% Russia) can steal your money without getting out of their pajamas. With zero risk of prosecution.
 
Crypto is probably the lowest risk of getting caught when stealing funds
 
Just use a paper wallet that you cut into multiple pieces and store in different safety deposit boxes around the world, simple ;-).
 

“Multi-Billion Binance Hack Hitting Crypto Markets​

BeauHD 13 hours ago		34
Binance is investigating a potential hack after more than $2 billion in crypto was drained from one of its walletsinto a new external account, with Blockaid estimating nearly $3.3 billion was moved.

"Our teams are aware of reports of a potential security issue and are actively investigating," said Binance on X.

"User funds are safe," said Binance founder CZ. "It does look like a hack on Binance. Appreciate the quick freeze from Tether (~$971m) and Circle (~$823m). I don't manage Binance anymore, but as a shareholder, I expect all user funds will be fully covered."”
 
Sycraft said:
Ya because nobody writes malware that goes around trying to do things like steal crypto coins... The problem with the "just keep it on your computer" argument is this would be the same argument as "just keep cash in your house." Can you do it safely? Sure, it is possible to do a good job securing your personal devices, just like it is possible to have good physical security for cash. The problem is that you probably don't. Most people are not very good at computer security. It is complex, ever evolving, and can be a pain in the butt. So most people just ignore it and/or lie to themselves that they are doing a good job.

So really it doesn't solve anything, except for allowing crypto evangelists to shift blame and say "Well it was your own fault!" when shit goes down.

Thing is: Banks have solutions to this. Not only do they tend to have WAAAAAY better security than crypto exchanges, but they have contingency plans to deal with it. Transactions are traceable, logged, and can be reversed, they have insurance, etc. While that doesn't mean your money is 100%, can never be stolen EVAR, safe in a bank it is pretty damn safe, particularly compared to trying to keep it yourself.
Click to expand...
Tell me you don't know how crypto works without telling me you don't know how crypto works. Nice try fearmongering tho

Others saying just anyone could hack it also don't know how crypto works at all.
 
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Binance had a fund, but the fund was estimated at a little over $1B.
They say at least $3B is gone. $3B frozen.
Binance is toast.
Have fun getting your money out of there.
After all the lawsuits settled, I think Mt. Gox finally paid off it's users a decade+ later with ~half of what they were owed?

Reminder:
Don't use centralized exchanges.
Don't use centralized crypto (USDC, USDT, Ripple, etc.)
 
IIRC Mt Gox eventually paid its former users what they were legally owed. Unfortunately for them, that was the value in their accounts in Yen at the time of the failure, not the value of the stolen crypto at the time the payout was made. It was only the crypto becoming worth several times what it was at the start of the bankruptcy that allowed the residual left in the exchange to be able to cover its liabilities as specified in bankruptcy law.
 
DanNeely said:
IIRC Mt Gox eventually paid its former users what they were legally owed. Unfortunately for them, that was the value in their accounts in Yen at the time of the failure, not the value of the stolen crypto at the time the payout was made. It was only the crypto becoming worth several times what it was at the start of the bankruptcy that allowed the residual left in the exchange to be able to cover its liabilities as specified in bankruptcy law.
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You're right about the original Yen valuation, but they were sued to force payments in crypto.
You made me curious. Hack was in 2012. Lawsuit settled in 2021. They are currently paying out 142,000 of the 650,000 stolen (<22%). Repayments started in 2024. The deadline for repayments was just extended again to 2027.
 

“Binance Suffers Biggest Crypto Hack In History With $6.3 Billion Affected [UPDATE]​

BeauHD 6 hours ago		73
UPDATE 10/30/26: Binance has temporarily suspended customer withdrawals after suffering what investigators say is the biggest crypto hack in history. According to Binance CEO Yi He, the company estimates roughly $6.3 billion in funds were impacted, with roughly $3 billion in assets frozen on-chain so far. Rest assured, "your money is safe, and we're covering every loss," said co-CEO Richard Teng in a LinkedIn post.

"This was a complex attack," said Teng. "The attacker also used a self-destruct mechanism that destroyed tooling and tracers, making it more difficult for us to trace." From a report: Teng said the incident was not carried out by one person. While the initial investigation indicated the involvement of a compromised laptop, further digging revealed additional points of breach. [...] Blockchain analysis firms TRM Labs and Elliptic have linked the theft to North Korean hackers, with TRM attributing it "with high confidence" to a group known as TraderTraitor, the same group responsible for last year's Bybit hack.

Elliptic estimated Friday that about 44% of the stolen assets have been frozen, with stablecoins accounting for nearly all of those funds. The firm estimated that attackers still controlled over $3 billion in crypto that token issuers cannot directly freeze.

The hackers appear to have compromised Binance's wallet-signing infrastructure, allowing them to authorize transactions that drained billions of dollars in cryptocurrency across multiple blockchains, according to the firms. Binance, in its preliminary stage, has conducted an investigation into the hack, which suggests the incident may have begun with a compromised engineer's laptop. The exchange added that it has found no evidence that wallet passwords were leaked. Below is the original story from yesterday, Oct. 29th.

Binance is investigating a potential hack after more than $2 billion in crypto was drained from one of its walletsinto a new external account, with Blockaid estimating nearly $3.3 billion was moved.

"Our teams are aware of reports of a potential security issue and are actively investigating," said Binance on X.

"User funds are safe," said Binance founder CZ. "It does look like a hack on Binance. Appreciate the quick freeze from Tether (~$971m) and Circle (~$823m). I don't manage Binance anymore, but as a shareholder, I expect all user funds will be fully covered."

At around the same time, crypto-based prediction market Polymarket reported its own security incident that wiped out around $2.7 million in user funds.”
 
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