Binance Suspends Withdrawals After Hackers Steal $6.3 Billion

Binance, the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange, has suspended withdrawals after hackers stole $6.3 billion U.S. from its platform. 

The exchange said that a “security incident” had impacted $6.3 billion U.S., in what’s being called the worst cryptocurrency attack ever. 

Binance’s co-CEO Richard Teng said the exchange will cover all losses from the $6.3 billion U.S. hack and make investors whole again. 

However, the crypto exchange has temporarily suspended all withdrawals while it assesses the security breach and the damage done. 

Binance said an initial investigation suggests “the security incident may involve a compromised DevOps engineer’s laptop, which allowed an attacker to gain access…” 

Teng said Binance is still assessing the impact to the exchange. He added that there’s no evidence of any wallet private keys being stolen.

The exchange is working with law enforcement and blockchain intelligence firms to trace and recover the stolen funds.

Binance also said that deposits to the exchange remain unaffected by the security breach. The company expects to begin resuming withdrawal services within the next 48 hours.

Teng also said that Binance is able to cover all losses using its Secure Asset Fund, as well as company funds, adding that customer funds remain safe.

Other crypto firms such as Circle Internet Group (NYSE: $CRCL) and Ripple have also temporarily frozen funds that are believed to be tied to the hack.

The incident at Binance and size of the theft have rattled confidence in cryptocurrency safety, which many people believe is under threat from artificial intelligence (A.I.) and quantum computers. 

Bitcoin (CRYPTO: $BTC) fell more than 4% to $77,400 U.S. early on Oct. 30 as news of the hack broke worldwide.

Binance is privately held and its stock does not trade on a public exchange.