Largest Crypto Heist Ever

This is not a great week to be the CEO of a cryptocurrency exchange. Binance, the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange, was the victim of a sophisticated attack that stole $6.3 billion worth of cryptocurrency in about 20 minutes. Details of how the attack was accomplished are still light, but it appears to have been initiated through an employee’s compromised laptop. The FBI has confirmed suspicions that the perpetrators were an elite group of North Korean hackers, who also stole $1.5 billion from crypto exchange Bybit last year. Binance claims they have frozen about $3 billion of the stolen funds and will repay any investor losses, but it’s unclear how they can afford to do that, nor if “frozen” means “recovered”. They also temporarily suspended withdrawals, perhaps to stave off an old fashioned bank run. This incident is a huge loss for those who are trying to legitimize digital assets as a reliable investment, and it remains to be seen what the rest of the fallout will be.