How the biggest heist in crypto history unfolded

CALIFORNIA, Oct 30: About $6.3 billion of cryptocurrencies were drained from wallets that Binance uses to process transactions, according to the exchange and expert analysis of blockchain records.

Binance said in a statement on X, opens new tab that it initially thought the attack involved a compromised laptop. "However, our subsequent investigation has uncovered additional points of breach," it added, without elaborating.

The exchange operates a secure asset fund for users, a $1 billion bitcoin reserve designed to protect customers in the event of a security breach, according to its website.
Co-CEO Richard Teng said losses would be covered by the fund and company resources.

According to US blockchain analytics firm TRM Labs, opens new tab, the attackers compromised Binance's "signing infrastructure", which authorizes transactions, allowing them to issue instructions that emptied the affected wallets.

The bulk of the heist unfolded in about 20 minutes, blockchain records show, beginning shortly after 2000 GMT on Thursday. Once the funds were moved, the attackers raced to shift them beyond the reach of Binance counterparties and stablecoin issuers, which have frozen roughly half of the stolen assets.

An unusual feature of some cryptocurrencies, including major stablecoins such as Tether's USDT and Circle's USDC, is that their issuers can freeze them remotely.

"In layman's terms, the attacker may not have stolen the vault key, they may have hijacked the system that tells the vault to release money," said Joshua Chu, a Hong Kong lawyer who works on crypto cases.�"REUTERS