Binance, described as the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange, has suffered a security breach with an estimated impact of $6.3 billion, making it the largest crypto heist on record.

The exchange said it had worked with partners to freeze affected assets and had located about $3 billion. Binance did not provide an update on the remaining $3.3 billion. Co-founder Yi He said the company would cover “all hacking losses”.

The incident adds to a history of major thefts involving cryptocurrency exchanges, blockchain networks and decentralised-finance platforms. Such breaches have raised questions about the security of customer assets and the risks investors face in holding digital tokens.

Major crypto thefts before Binance

Bybit, February 2025: Cryptocurrency exchange Bybit lost digital tokens valued at $1.5 billion. The assets were taken from a cold wallet used for ether tokens. Cold wallets are generally stored offline and are typically considered more secure.

Ronin Network, March 2022: Hackers took roughly $540 million from a blockchain project connected to the online game Axie Infinity. Ronin Network enables transfers of crypto coins between different blockchains. The theft involved about 173,600 ether tokens and 25.5 million USD Coin tokens.

Wormhole, February 2022: Hackers stole 120,000 digital tokens linked to ether, with losses put at $320 million. Wormhole is a decentralised-finance site. The crypto arm of Chicago-based Jump Trading, which had acquired the developer behind Wormhole the previous year, subsequently replaced the funds.

Poly Network, August 2021: A theft from Poly Network, a platform for peer-to-peer token transactions, initially totalled $610 million. The hackers later returned nearly all of the funds. The case highlighted vulnerabilities in the growing DeFi sector, where people lend, borrow and save through digital tokens without relying on traditional intermediaries such as banks and exchanges.

Coincheck, January 2018: The Tokyo-based exchange lost $530 million after thieves accessed a hot wallet, an online digital wallet. The breach drew attention to exchange security. At the time, South Korea’s intelligence agency said a North Korean hacking group may have been responsible.

Mt. Gox, 2011 to 2014: Bitcoin worth close to $500 million was stolen from the Tokyo-based exchange in one of the earliest major cryptocurrency hacks. Mt. Gox had once processed 80% of global bitcoin trading. It filed for bankruptcy in early 2014 after the theft became known, leaving about 24,000 customers unable to access their funds.