Binance hackers took $6.3bn in 20 minutes, with North Korea suspected

Hackers drained $6.3bn from Binance in about 20 minutes, according to Token Times, in what would be one of the largest thefts ever recorded from a cryptocurrency platform. The suspected origin of the attackers is North Korea, Token Times reported.

The scale is the story. Binance is the industry's largest exchange by trading volume, and a loss of this size in a window of minutes tests the assumption that customer assets at big platforms are safe. Token Times reported the figure and the suspected North Korean link; neither has been independently confirmed here.

North Korean involvement, if established, would place the incident alongside a long line of state-linked crypto thefts that Western governments say fund Pyongyang's weapons programmes. Attribution in such cases is slow and often contested, and the source material does not say how the link was drawn.

The reported heist lands as virtual asset service providers face tighter licensing and custody rules across major jurisdictions, with regulators increasingly asking exchanges to prove that customer funds are segregated and insured. How Binance responds, and whether the stolen funds can be traced, will shape that debate.

Token Times reported the $6.3bn figure and the suspected North Korean origin. The source material gives no detail on how the breach occurred, which assets were taken, or what Binance has said publicly.