Binance Loses $40.7 Million in Bitcoin Through Coordinated Cyberattack
Hackers steal 7,000 bitcoin from major crypto exchange Binance by exploiting API keys and two-factor authentication codes. The company covers the $40.7 million loss using its emergency insurance fund without impacting user accounts.
Hackers steal 7,000 bitcoin worth roughly $40.7 million from Binance, the world's largest cryptocurrency exchange by trading volume. The malicious actors access user API keys, two-factor authentication codes, and potentially other sensitive information to execute the large-scale security breach.
The cyberattack targets only Binance's hot wallet, which holds about two percent of the exchange's total bitcoin holdings, while all other wallets remain secure and unharmed. The hackers use multiple seemingly independent accounts to structure the transaction in a way that passes existing security checks before internal alarms trigger.
Binance responds by freezing all deposits and withdrawals for a week to conduct a thorough security review, though trading continues during this period. The exchange covers the entire loss using its Secure Asset Fund for Users (SAFU), ensuring that no user funds are impacted by the theft.