A North Korean hacking unit is widely believed to be behind the $6.3 billion cyberheist on crypto exchange Binance. Justin Sullivan/Getty Images North America hide title toggle title i Justin Sullivan/Getty Images North America It was the biggest cyber heist in history. Binance, the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange, was hacked this week and cybercriminals looted more than $6 billion. Experts widely believe that the hackers were a sophisticated unit within the North Korean military that has a history of committing cyber heists. The theft stunned the crypto industry and sparked new fears about a sector that many critics deride as the “Wild West” of finance. Here are 5 things you should know about the spectacular heist. First, what are crypto exchanges? They are similar to the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) or Nasdaq, but instead of trading stocks, investors turn to Binance and other crypto exchanges to trade digital assets like Bitcoin. A wide range of investors trade cryptocurrencies on these exchanges, from financial institutions and sophisticated traders, to everyday investors looking to make some money. Well, what happened this week? At 4:05 pm ET on Thursday, hackers were able to access the accounts of investors trading cryptocurrencies on Binance. It took these hackers only about 20 minutes to make off with just over $6.3 billion in cryptocurrency. Ari Redbord, global head of policy at TRM Labs, a cryptocurrency research firm that has helped Binance trace and recover some of the stolen funds, calls it “the largest bank robbery in human history.” “Imagine a world where someone could walk into a bank and walk out with $6.36 billion in stolen funds and then move those funds at the speed of the Internet,” he says. “This is a bank robbery in the age of technology.” But many details about the heist are still unclear, including how exactly the hackers were able to access investors’ trading accounts on Binance. Binance, in collaboration with other exchanges and partners, has been able to freeze around $3 billion in stolen cryptocurrency, effectively preventing hackers from taking full possession of its digital assets. The exchange has also said it will refund money to customers who were victims of the cyber heist, although it is unclear exactly how it will do so. Why do experts think it’s North Korea? The level of sophistication and speed of the hack point to a North Korean military hacking unit widely known as TraderTraitor. The unit was also responsible for what was the largest cyber heist in history: the theft of $1.5 billion from the Bybit crypto exchange last year. “North Korea has built the most sophisticated cyber capabilities in the world. They have a group of professional hacking teams that are part of their military,” says TRM’s Redbord. “This is not just a commercial hacker looking to make some money,” he adds. “This will be used for weapons proliferation and other destabilizing activities.” Experts say North Korean hackers are very sophisticated and motivated. Here, Korean People’s Army soldiers bow before statues of late North Korean leaders Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il on the 32nd anniversary of Kim Il Sung’s death, on Mansu Hill in Pyongyang on July 8, 2026. Kim Won Jin/AFP via Getty Images hide caption toggle caption i Kim Won Jin/AFP via Getty Images What does this holdup tell us about the security of exchanges? cryptocurrencies? Investigators say it is too early to determine whether there were any major flaws in Binance’s security systems. But they say the heist is a clear sign of how sophisticated North Korean hackers are. Meanwhile, cryptocurrency critics say the way Binance and other cryptocurrency exchanges are set up deserves scrutiny. A unique feature of crypto exchanges is that people can buy and sell digital currencies like bitcoin and leave them with the exchanges for safekeeping. This double trust in the exchange makes them very tempting targets for hackers. And more worryingly for critics, crypto exchanges also do not have to follow the same strict regulations that govern established Wall Street firms. “You can trade on the New York Stock Exchange, but you don’t keep your funds on the New York Stock Exchange. You keep them with your broker, and your broker is audited and regulated by the SEC (Securities and Exchange Commission),” says Amanda Fischer, chief policy officer and chief operating officer at financial consumer advocacy group Better Markets. “And your broker has to pay for insurance that will compensate clients in the event of a cyber attack.” “Therefore, the regulatory framework for cryptocurrencies is much weaker than what US investors enjoy in other markets,” says Fischer. Although Binance has promised to return money to customers who lost funds, it is not necessarily obligated to do so under current regulations. And many critics worry that smaller exchanges could struggle to return money to their investors in the event of a hack, leaving these traders to suffer the consequences. Doesn’t this reinforce the Wild West reputation of the crypto sector? For many critics of cryptocurrencies, this is true. They warn that the lack of clear regulations for crypto executives could create perverse incentives on these exchanges. In 2022, FTX, then the largest crypto exchange, ran into financial trouble after a period of intense volatility in the crypto markets, and the exchange turned to its own clients’ funds as it desperately tried to bail itself out. The company went bankrupt and its CEO and founder, Sam Bankman-Fried, was sentenced to 25 years in prison for fraud, among other charges. “If a trade goes wrong, it can be almost irresistible to dip into those clients’ funds. Just this once is what they say, to cover their losses,” says Better Markets’ Fischer. “But we know that can lead to catastrophe for investors.” It’s another reason why the massive Binance cyber heist is raising so many alarms.
